Renowned scientist Dr. Michael Morbius has a brilliant idea. In order to cure a debilitating blood-borne disease, he will combine human DNA with that of a Costa Rican vampire bat.

How it works? No idea. He says authoritatively “coagulants”, slams a few vials into a centrifuge, and There you go!

The problem is personal. Michael (Jared Leto) and his best friend Milo (Matt Smith) both have a mysterious illness that makes them weak and requires them to walk with two canes. Determined, he illegally experiments on himself.

Morbius is then shocked when the trial leaves him as a bat and fang thirsty for human blood.

Eh? It’s as if I merged my DNA with that of a hippopotamus and was surprised to be hungry, hungry.

Marvel’s tired and dark new movie “Morbius,” which is being made by Sony and isn’t part of the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe, suffers from chronic obviousness. Of course, Dr. Morbius (Jared Leto) is going to become Batboy. Of course, Milo (Matt Smith) will want in on the action. Of course, the character I won’t name will also accidentally end up becoming a vampire. Director Daniel Espinosa’s film isn’t a disaster, just a siesta.

Comic book movies are often formulaic, yes, but one only has to look at last year’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” to see that there are plenty of opportunities for the unexpected. Here, there are only opportunities for Leto to be a creep and contort his body wildly. This is the most predictable part of all.

“Morbius” is one of Marvel’s growing number of anti-hero films – a more palatable film than “Venom”, at least – about an off-putting person who develops a destructive power he can’t fully control and who we don’t know how to feel for two hours. The viewer finds it difficult to care.

We’re also aware that there are many, many vampire stories better than Count Dreckula’s here (check out the Netflix series “Midnight Mass”) and this one isn’t much different other than his asexuality and lack of love. ‘spirit. It’s closer to the horror genre than most Marvel films; however, it is never scary.

Aesthetically, it steals a lot from what came before it. In one scene, Morbius stands in the center of a tornado of bats as a score sounds, just like Christian Bale did in “Batman Begins.” When Morbius and Milo go into vampire mode, their mugs look like emo versions of Spike from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” And, come on, an experiment that turns a guy into a bat is a lot like a lab accident turning Peter Parker into a spider.

Leto is at his best when he’s not flying while whistling and using echolocation. He’s well cast (all the actor has to do to get ready to play a vampire is wake up), and you think he cares about Milo (Smith, as we saw in “The Crown” , does the brat well) and his colleague Martine (Adria Arjona). However, the scenes with young Michael (Charlie Shotwell) at the start are better and more moving than anything that comes after.

The cacophonous ending sets up a sequel, but hopefully it never sees the light of day. In fact, given that they are vampires, maybe so!