The reviews are in for Marvel’s “Morbius” starring Jared Leto, and they’re out for blood.
As the social media and review embargo lifted on Wednesday evening for the film, critics took to Twitter to elaborate on what some are calling the “worst Marvel superhero movie in a long, long time.”
“Morbius is a reminder of what many comic book movies were before the MCU: sloppy, poorly executed, and sure to disappoint fans of the comics,” critic Dan Murrell tweeted. “It also contains the worst attempt at universe building in the modern era. Full review later tonight but… it’s bad.”
#Morbius is a reminder of what many comic book movies were before the MCU: sloppy, poorly executed, and sure to disappoint fans of the comics. It also contains the worst attempt at universe building in the modern era. Full review later tonight but…it’s bad. pic.twitter.com/lng4YWH5Gg
— Dan Murrell (@MurrellDan) March 31, 2022
Critic William Bibbiani called it “the worst Marvel Superhero movie in a long, long time. Mostly inert, sometimes laughable.” He also mentioned a moment in the film involving a cat: “The scene where someone tries to summon a cat by shaking their litter box, only to assume the cat is gone when that doesn’t work, is the weirdest thing I’ve seen in years.”
#Morbius is the worst Marvel superhero movie in a long, long time. Mostly inert, sometimes laughable. And the scene where someone tries to summon a cat by shaking their litter box, only to assume the cat is gone when that doesn’t work, is the weirdest thing I’ve seen in years. pic.twitter.com/tNHmN63Ug3
— William Bibbiani (@WilliamBibbiani) March 31, 2022
But Matt Smith, who plays Morbius’ surrogate brother Milo, did receive some praise for his performance. Entertainment Weekly’s Devan Coggan wrote: “Look, #Morbius is an absolutely ridiculous film, but it did make me want to rewatch the entirety of Matt Smith’s Doctor Who run. So there’s that.”
Look, #Morbius is an absolutely ridiculous film, but it did make me want to rewatch the entirety of Matt Smith’s Doctor Who run. So there’s that. pic.twitter.com/CKWShjCuZY
— Devan Coggan (@devancoggan) March 31, 2022
Early reviews were also unforgiving, with Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman writing: “’Morbius’ is a movie in which it’s clear that no one ever sent the script back for a rewrite with the instructions, ‘Please add a script.’ As in: Add spice, add dialogue, add something so that the movie plays like more than a barely colored-in diagram.”
IndieWire’s Kate Erbland wrote on Twitter that the film “sucks more than just blood,” adding in the review that it “occupies a strange no-mans-land of the sprawling Spider-Verse, not charming like the ‘Spider-Man’ films, not funny like the ‘Venom’ films, and certainly not technically impressive like the animated ‘Into the Spider-Verse.’”
Fresh Fiction’s Courtney Howard called the film “Snorebius,” writing that it’s “missing much of its connective tissue to make sense of its shenanigans, this titular anti-hero is given a vehicle that takes its foot off the gas not far enough into the ride.”
However, Vanity Fair’s review was less harsh, saying that although the film eventually becomes “a cluttered slugfest… for much of its run it is a stylish, intriguingly toned story of a man trying to thwart mortality.”
“Morbius” releases in theaters on April 1.