“FELICIAAAAAAA!”
If you get that Spider-Man 90’s cartoon reference, you had a great childhood. So is Morbius as awful as they say? Not even close. Because Morbius isn’t that bad. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit. What I can remember of it.
Is it flawed? Absolutely. Messy? Wholly. Bland? At times. Forgettable? Definitely, but maybe not due to the #MorbiusSweep controversy. The internet is something else.
It’s also subject to some really strange editing, whiplash inducing abruptness, and a clear case of studio-meddling-to-make-it “tight” as there is a clear 30 minute chunk sliced out of here. There’s a stronger movie in here somewhere that delves deeper into themes, characters, and lore.
But they were concerned about an enjoyable ride. And yet there’s not a ton of action? Just the main moral dilemma and fun villain. I’m a sucker (ha!) for brotherly bonds in film, especially if they go tragic. Wasn’t expecting that here. Matt Smith is having a blast and sells a rather underdeveloped role, and Leto does his thing, but I feel his performance was mostly edited out.
Expectations are the worst and while at first I had none, I expected this to suck (double ha!) so I’m glad to be pleasantly surprised. It’s a shame everyone is hating on it as a fad, because there’s a lot of potential behind the choppy studio produced feeling it falls victim to quite often. Just look at the trailers, they spoiled most of the big moments. Unfortunate, and why I avoid them a lot now.
Had the film leaned more into the horror action vibe I think it would’ve been all the better. But I appreciate them attempting to put the moral dilemma center stage. Again, the abruptness of the ending resolves almost nothing and did make me sigh a bit. And while the post credit scenes are as guilty as the rest of the movie, they still excited me thankfully.
Does this deserve 3 stars? For me, it gets by on the skin of its teeth. There are objective qualities to film, but the entertainment factor is subjective. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s objectively bad. It’s exceptionally average studio cash-in. But I had fun.
Make your own opinions. To each their own. Always look for the good. Even if the CGI is the most CGI looking CGI to ever CGI.
3 out of 5 stars
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