Superheroes are getting moodier. The thought of ‘darkish’ comic-book variations isn’t precisely new, however currently they’ve stepped up a gear, with Matt Reeves’ terribly emo The Batman, and Marvel’s enterprise into the murky morals of Moon Knight. Sony’s newest MCU-adjacent Spidey-villain spin-off makes an attempt to leap on this tone-shifting bandwagon, specializing in their most bloodthirsty of anti-heroes: a residing vampire.

Not like the hapless Eddie Brock, the opposite anti-hero of a franchise as soon as sadly named the Sony Footage Universe Of Marvel Characters (or ‘SPUMC’), Dr Michael Morbius is actively on the lookout for his superpower. A medical savant, Nobel Prize rejector, synthetic blood creator and terminal blood-disorder affected person, he makes use of the super-important anticoagulants within the blood of vampire bats (don’t suppose too deeply concerning the science stuff; Morbius’ script definitely doesn’t) to develop a treatment, which transforms his emaciated, fragile physique into a robust, muscular one. Only one downside — he now wants human blood to outlive.

It’s saying one thing when your most grounded efficiency in years is as a superhuman vampire, however that’s surprisingly true of Jared Leto, right here discovering a quiet sincerity that’s far much less showy than the distracting accents (Home Of Gucci) and messianic tendencies (WeCrashed) of newer roles. The principle trio of him, Matt Smith (Morbius’ pal Milo) and Adria Arjona (taking part in fellow physician Martine Bancroft) are woefully under-developed; outdoors of their relationship to Morbius, Milo and Martine’s character-development is non-existent. He’s compelled into the mould of cartoonish villain (the sort of which Smith can do in his sleep, however nonetheless proves unsatisfying); she finally ends up nothing greater than a disposable love-interest.

Visually, Morbius does some attention-grabbing issues with its titular hero’s powers. His superspeed is signified by a trailing haze round him, which doesn’t totally work, however the usage of slow-mo to select moments out of the hectic set-pieces is efficient — an prolonged combat and flight via a subway station being a selected standout. Seeing his echo-location powers ricochet off partitions, ripple throughout New York Metropolis and pump via the air as he tracks a heartbeat can be cool. It’s only a disgrace we didn’t see him familiarize yourself with all of it — as a substitute, his skills are defined via an exposition dump, and seemingly mastered immediately. All of this falters in a nosedive of a last act, throughout which any sense of climactic motion is masked fully by incessant swarms of bats, poorly rendered breaking glass and blurry, crumbling buildings.

Morbius’ core idea is robust — two buddies shut sufficient to be brothers, bonded by their shared struggling, who’ll do something to spend at some point feeling really alive somewhat than at demise’s door. Sadly, it’s not correctly supported by every other aspect of the movie, with messy motion, wafer-thin characters and a fair slighter plot letting down what may have been a lean, darkish, attention-grabbing instalment within the SPUMC. And don’t even get us began on these unforgivable post-credit stings.