The Flickering Myth writing team share their thoughts on the first Morbius trailer…
Yesterday, Sony Pictures gave us our first look at Morbius, the second instalment in the studio’s shared ‘Universe of Marvel Characters’ after last year’s Venom, which sees Jared Leto taking on the role of Dr. Michael Morbius, a scientist who finds himself transformed into a Living Vampire.
Sony’s previous Spider-Man universe spinoff Venom proved to be a solid hit at the box office, although it didn’t impress with its first symbiote-free trailer. So, Morbius manage to impress with this first look? Here’s what our writers made of this week’s trailer…
EJ Moreno – I enjoyed it, because I like the character and it looks like a fun horror romp. But the trailer felt off in some ways, maybe the music choice but probably the exposition dump. Still, I’ll still try it out!
Helen Murdoch – Some intrigue with the link to the Spider-Man films but feel like I watched the entire movie in the trailer. Liked the horror element and hopefully Leto will be more successful than he was as the Joker!
Gerald James – This is leading to a cross-over event that no one asked for or cares about. On its own merits it looks like something I would have watched 15 years ago. That Vulture reveal at the end seems wasted here unless there’s more to his role than introducing Morbius to Venom.
Allen Christian – Has anyone actually confirmed that Keaton is playing Vulture? It makes more sense that he would be, rather than Sony making him a different character and willfully disconnecting this from the Spider-Man universe. I’m seeing a lot of assumptions, but no official confirmation. That said, this trailer gets a big yawn from me. This looks like something Gerald would have been into 15 years ago. It looks like type of comic book movie that died with Blade: Trinity and The Crow: Salvation, and no one missed it. This is bottom-of-the-barrel IP fishing from Sony. I like the character of Morbius, and even I don’t care. The deep crevasses of the Spider-Man rogues gallery might not be quite the goldmine they were hoping for. Of course, I’m routinely wrong about this type of thing, so this might make a billion dollars.
Gerald James – It’s true though. Spooky comic book shit would have made me super happy over a decade ago.
Ricky Church – This feels perfectly suited to the late 90s – early 00s era of comic book films. I’ll admit it looks a bit better than I thought, but not by much. It doesn’t really do anything to entice me to see it. The horror angle is interesting and could help set it apart from other comic book movies, but this trailer didn’t really veer enough into that genre. Jared Leto seems somewhat muted here too like his heart isn’t really in it, though that’s more likely due to the exposition he narrates throughout the trailer. I also find it kinda funny how heavily Sony relies on the Marvel name throughout this teaser. Even though its technically true they were the studio behind Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, you’d almost believe they were in charge of the whole thing (Kevin didn’t do all the work, remember?). I’m not sure how connected this will end up being to the MCU since the image of Spider-Man they use is the Toby Maguire Spidey and it seems they want us to believe Michael Keaton is Vulture, though I highly doubt that’s the case right now. More likely they want general audiences to think its connected when it won’t be or will very loosely be at best. We’ll just have to wait and see, but it’s clear that despite their recent posturing they’re going to hang onto Marvel as hard as they can.
Harrison Abbott – I admire Sony’s ongoing commitment to try and recapture the glory days of… Steel, Spawn and Daredevil. They’ve really nailed that retro feel what with the lame CGI, cheap production value, grungey aesthetic, po-faced tone and risible music choice! Can’t wait for it to make $800 million.
Jo Craig – Perhaps this could be Leto’s redeeming comic book role after his outlandish Joker that highlights his 30 Seconds to Mars alter ego. The ectoplasm imagery is inviting and aids the intrigue to this modern vampire’s tale. I’m more curious, however, to see what Matt Smith injects into this MCU dark horse origin.
Calum Petrie – It is looking better than I was expecting. As much as I enjoy Leto, he is usually extremely “hammy” so I am going to make a point of seeing it after Venom surprised me.
Martin Carr – Looks better than Venom did during the trailer phase. Jared Harris sells it alongside Leto while the brief appearance of Matt Smith and Michael Keaton are nice touches. It feels more Marvel than Sony story wise by which I mean the story seems in place, rather than being just flashes of numerous set pieces and no character development. It also reminds me of The Fly with Jeff Goldblum to some extent which is no bad thing. This might be the role to finally eradicate that Joker from his resume.
What did you make of the Morbius trailer? Are you looking forward to the movie? Let us know in the comments, or on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
One of Marvel’s most compelling and conflicted characters comes to the big screen as Oscar® winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero, Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder, and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. What at first appears to be a radical success soon reveals itself to be a remedy potentially worse than the disease.
Morbius is set for release on July 31st 2020 and sees Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) directing a cast that includes Jared Leto (Suicide Squad) as Dr. Michael Morbius, Adria Arjona (Pacific Rim Uprising) as Martine Bancroft, Matt Smith (Doctor Who) as Loxias Crown, Jared Harris (The Terror) as Morbius’ mentor, and Tyrese Gibson (Fast & Furious) as an FBI agent.
