Morbius

Based on the Marvel comic-book character, Morbius follows Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius as he attempts to cure his rare blood disease by splicing the DNA from a vampire bat with his own – with problems ensuing after the experiment transforms Michael into a bloodthirsty vampire. Filmmaker Daniel Espinosa, armed with Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless’ screenplay, delivers a perpetually erratic thriller that fares best in its quieter, more low-key moments, as the movie’s relatively promising setup is heightened by the stirring efforts of its various performers – with Leto’s mostly charming work here matched by such compelling periphery players as Jared Harris and Matt Smith. (The latter’s unabashedly flamboyant turn as the picture’s larger-than-life villain remains an obvious highlight within the proceedings, to be sure.) It’s disappointing to note, then, that Morbius grows less and less interesting as it progresses, with the stagnant bent of the film’s midsection compounded by Espinosa’s frustrating reliance on unreasonably jittery camerawork and an egregious overuse of computer-generated special effects. (The combination of both unwelcome attributes paves the way for an action-packed climax that’s essentially and effectively incoherent.) The end result is a hit-and-miss adaptation that is, to an increasingly distressing extent, more miss than hit, which is a shame, really, given the potential afforded by the admittedly unique premise and periodic inclusion of thoroughly engaging sequences (eg a nurse is stalked within a dimly-lit hospital hallway).

** out of ****