Marvel is cranking out product at such an alarming rate it was only a matter of time before corner-cutting began chipping away at “Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.” Jared Leto stars as a doctor who looks to be in worse health than his patients. So frail is Dr. Michael Morbius that he relies on a bottle of White-Out to part his hair. In their youth, surrogate brothers Michael and Milo (Matt Smith) shared both a hospital ward and a rare blood disease. Michael grew to be a great doctor, whose invention of artificial blood saved more lives than penicillin. But there’s a caveat attached to the cure that turned Morbius into a vampire. Since it’s synthetic blood, shouldn’t Morbius only be allowed to exist in artificial sunlight? Seriously, what kind of vampire operates in daylight? The only thing cheaper-looking than the Bizarro Universe makeup are the (not so) special effects: dozens of winged-rats flap inside Morbius’s batquarium like dollar bills in a cash grab booth. The “love me daddy” competitiveness ends predictably in a climactic fight between brothers staged in such a manner that one can’t see the battle for the bats. Rather than putting an audience through the paces, director Daniel Mendoza deposits us in the arms of Morpheus. P.S. With little to entice, the film bombed twice. P.S. With little to entice, the film bombed twice. (2022) — Scott Marks
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