Movie Review

Vampire-centric Morbius is another roll of the dice for Marvel

Jared Leto in Morbius.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

The evolution of the comic book movie era has seen characters once thought to be fringe move to the mainstream. Few could have predicted that the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, and Shazam would someday be headlining their own movies, but here we are. Now joining the unexpected list is Morbius, aka the Living Vampire.

Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) is a brilliant scientist who has spent his entire life trying to find a cure to a disease that forces him to use canes and has left his body gaunt. His big innovation, artificial blood, has earned him international acclaim, but not the treatment that he desires. Next on his list is to splice human DNA with vampire bat DNA to create a curative serum, a risky if not insane idea.

Naturally, he experiments on himself in the first human trial, but instead of merely healing him, it turns him into a being that needs fresh blood in order to thrive and survive. Michael is horrified at what he has done to himself, but his childhood friend Milo (Matt Smith) — who suffers from a similar ailment — has no such qualms about the violent side effects of the serum.

Directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Matt Sazama and Buck Sharpless, the film is another long-delayed effort that was mostly shot prior to the pandemic. The character, which has a history in the Spider-Man universe, initially seems to be a hard sell, given that Dr. Morbius is pretty prickly. And even though his transformation into a blood-sucking creature is dreadful to witness, it actually serves to make him a fully-realized person.

The effects the filmmakers use to show how Morbius is adapting to his newfound powers are dynamic and — rare for a movie as CGI-dependent as this — coherent. Pulsating waves, shimmering streaks, and more are employed to give the audience a feel for what Morbius is experiencing, and they continue to work throughout the film, never becoming redundant.

As for the storyline … well, at least it’s never dull. The antagonism that grows between Morbius and Milo is initially interesting, although it gets less so the more each becomes entrenched in their respective viewpoints. A semi-romance between Morbius and his co-worker, Dr. Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona) sparks a bit, but it’s kind of hard to get past the inherent disconnect between a vampire and a human.

Leto, like fellow actor Tom Hardy, seems to delight in hiding or altering his normal face, which he does for most of this film. Oddly, though, for an objectively odd character in both human and vampire form, Leto puts on a better performance as Morbius than he did while dialing it up in House of Gucci. Smith complements him well, but he’s the one who goes over-the-top in this film. Arjona’s character never truly connects, but Jared Harris is effective in a mentor-type role.

Given that Morbius is supposed to be an antihero with possibly some redeeming qualities, it’ll be interesting to see how he’s positioned in the Spider-Man universe going forward. An appearance by a previous Spider-Man villain in a stinger scene during the end credits seems to point definitively in one direction, but that might also make it difficult to make a Morbius 2, as is the practice these days.

For now, Morbius is a good-enough introduction for a character who most viewers may not know well. It’s not spectacular entertainment like the Spider-Man movies, but neither will it have viewers wishing for their money back.

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Morbius opens in theaters on April 1.

Jared Leto in Morbius.

Jared Leto in Morbius

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Jared Leto in Morbius.

Movie Review

Jessica Chastain drama Dreams stumbles through steamy romance

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams

Photo courtesy of Teorema

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams.

The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.

It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.

Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).

Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other - not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter - that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.

But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.

Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.

Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than it should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.

Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.

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Dreams is now playing in select theaters.

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