2022 Madeline Becotte Movie Reviews

A few weeks ago I decided to watch and review the new Sony Pictures movie, Morbius (2022).

I can tell you that in the several years since Sony released the trailers for this movie, I have not once wanted to see it. I thought it looked garish, with no real plot scheme, and got greenlit simply due to the success that was Sony’s Venom (2018). 

I can safely tell you that after seeing this movie, I was not wrong.

Morbius is nothing like you would expect, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing in a film like this.

I went in thinking that it would be a film derived from the horror genre. More thriller, and slasher than anything.

What I got was a slightly more graphic reboot of the Twilight franchise.

There is no one way to describe what this movie was, and I don’t mean that as a compliment.

The plot was lazy and unoriginal. That isn’t new for the superhero genre, but it wasn’t helped by the poor script quality.

Characters came across as two-dimensional, and moments that should have been powerful just fell flat. It wasn’t even the performers’ fault. It was simply me wondering why someone would actually write something like that.

The story was made even more confusing by the camera work. More than once, the film pieced scenes together in an odd montage, with flashbacks and flashforwards in no specific order. It was fifteen minutes into the movie before I realized what was past and present.

While the film was lackluster, do not think that I am critiquing the actors, because the casting department is the only thing I can say with certainty I was blown away by.

Jared Leto was like a breath of fresh air to the corpse that was the script. While his version of the Joker in The Suicide Squad (2016) left much to be desired, his portrayal of Michael Morbius was far from the worst part of the movie. The lines he delivered were moderately funny, and he had chemistry with every actor that he was on screen with.

And let’s not forget about the unsung villain, and I say unsung villain because I do not remember him in any of the promotions for this film (which is a travesty), Loxias Crown played by Matt Smith. While a one-dimensional character, as I do not enjoy the main comedy relief also being the man killing everyone. However, he was enjoyable to watch. Not to mention Leto’s and Smith’s chemistry was insane. I have never before seen a villain and hero who looked like they would either kill each other or kiss each other at any given moment.

If you were looking forward to watching Morbius, do not give up on it because of this review. I have noted that if you go into it with high hopes, you will not be disappointed. If you go in with low expectations, you will probably not like it.

However, if you are going simply because you saw Michael Keaton in the trailer and you thought that this would somehow be a connection to Tom Holland, do not waste your money. He is literally there for a minute and a half in the post-credit scenes. It is not worth it.