Jared Leto turns himself into a monster in Morbius, a continuation of the Sony-owned Marvel franchise.
Sony seems to be following the MCU playbook with their burgeoning film series, focusing movies on individual characters before jumping into the big team-ups. Morbius will give the origin story for the titular Spider-Man villain/anti-hero, a scientist who tries to cure his own blood disorder by turning himself into a vampire. Ok, the vampire part was an unexpected side effect, but otherwise it worked. The grave question posed by the trailer, though, is whether it was worth it.
This looks to be a more serious entry than the franchise-launcher, Venom, which hit on a kitschy vibe that some found charming. Morbius gives them the opportunity to flirt with horror, which seems to be feel director Daniel Espinosa went with. He’s an odd choice considering there’s no horror or superhero movies in his background (his last movie was the abysmal Child 44), but I guess his action movies Safe House and Snabba Cash is at least adjacent to these genres?
Regardless, these franchises always attract big stars, and this is no exception. Jared Leto plays the titular scientist/vampire while Jared Harris, Matt Smith, Michael Keaton, Tyrese Gibson, and Adria Arjona co-star.
It’s nice to see superhero movies continue to blend in other genres, a decision that will hopefully make Morbius as distinctive (albeit for entirely different reasons) than its franchise predecessor.
Morbius is directed by Daniel Espinosa and stars Jared Leto, Matt Smith, and Adria Arjona. It will be released in the US and the UK on July 31st, 2020. For international release dates, click here.
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