A nurse walks through a dark hallway as the motion sensor light shines on her head; her surroundings are nothing but darkness. As her steps approach the end of the hallway, light flickers at a distance behind her. Something is crawling on the walls like spiders searching for their prey. The lights start to turn on closer to her. Something’s wrong and she knows it. She starts to run for help. The light behind her just keeps coming closer. She glances back and sees claws ripping through the walls and blood drips from sharp teeth. The monster prepares to strike.  

   Morbius is a movie in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) that utilizes both action and adventure elements. It is the story of a man named Dr. Michael Morbius who attempts to find a cure for his and his friend’s blood disorder using bats from Costa Rica. Morbius, with the help of his assistant Martine Bancroft, creates this cure, but after testing it on himself, he turns into an uncontrollable vampire with superhuman abilities. His friend, Loxias Crown, also turns into a vampire and performs vampirism on innocent people to the point where Morbius must stop him at all costs.

   The acting of Star Jared Leto for the Morbius role is exquisite. Leto has the skill to change his own emotion to fit the character’s perspective. For example, Dr. Morbius is a very dedicated and intelligent person, so Jared uses a sympathetic attitude to create an almost heroic tone. His skill is also on display in Suicide Squad, where he played the Joker.

   The action sequences significantly contribute to the enjoyment of the movie. The director took advantage of using smooth camera motions and slow-mos whenever the primary characters are fighting. This allows the movie to rely less on shaky cameras, thus creating a better visual representation for the audience to engage in the action. Freshman Junsang Yoo, a student attending ArtCenter College of Design, commented on the subject. “One thing that made the movie special for me was the action. More specifically, how they used the visuals to show Morbius’  abilities such as the bullet-time sequence where the time slows down, allowing him to dodge the bullets. They did it in such a way that made the action scenes very memorable,” Yoo stated.

   The film’s CGI is top rate, amalgamating realism with the ideology of phantasm. The use of VFX technology shows real human expressions on the vampire’s faces, causing the audience not to question that they are real. “CGI worked most of the time because the movie was so ridiculous. A ridiculous movie with ridiculous CGI works well together. They blended realism with CGI to make it more tangible,” Yoo said. The usage of this method allows the movie to grab the attention of the audience.

   Morbius is a perfect example of a movie with quality action sequences and cinematography. Leto’s talent, and the use of smooth camera and slow-motion, and CGI, allow the action scenes to be quite memorable. This is definitely a contender for one of the best action superhero movies of 2022.