Morbius begins at a place of curiosity in the Costa Rican rainforest and then jumps back in time as yet another Spider-Man villain origin narrative without the Web-Head. Then we go through all of the classic beats. We first meet Michael as a young boy, dreaming of one day accomplishing great things despite being born with a blood disorder that leaves him pallid, hobbling, and staring down the barrel of a short life. As a child, he also meets his instant best buddy, “Milo,” at a clinic, who luckily has money and a devil-may-care attitude that may conceal a dark side. That will undoubtedly be irrelevant in the future.

Morbius becomes a bearded Leto as the boys grow older, while Milo becomes a callow malcontent played by Matt Smith. Both are still yearning for a cure because time is running out. Fortunately, Michael is working on that breakthrough medication with Dr. Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona, wasting) at a lab Milo is supporting. So, when Michael realizes that combining their DNA with that of vampire bats may be the cure, what could possibly go wrong? Simply employ a squad of blood bag security guards and carry out the experiment in foreign waters.

Leto is showing off a shirtless physique post-transformation faster than you can say Tobey Maguire, even while the film tries to gloss over the fact that he has to trip over more and more dead bodies to stay fit.

Morbius, a picture that has been postponed and delayed again, arrives with a lot of curiosity and perhaps a fair amount of schadenfreude. But, to be honest, it’s not any worse than last year’s crowd favorite, the dreadful Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Both films are produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach and feel like relics from a bygone era when mediocrity was considered “good enough” by the fanboy community. Consider the films Ghost Rider (2007) and Elektra (2005). And, to be honest, Morbius might be marginally better than the rest of them, even Venom 2, if only because it isn’t as aesthetically flamboyant.

The main reason audiences seem to have responded to both Venom mediocrities isn’t because of the strength of sloppy CGI or even the prowess of storyline; it’s to gawk at whatever the hell Tom Hardy was up to while playing to the cheap seats. Unfortunately, Morbius lacks such a gruesome-yet-entertaining performance to keep this house of sticks afloat.

Leto plays Morbius quite straight, perhaps because of the justified criticism leveled at his ambitious but weak Joker performance in 2016’s Suicide Squad. He is neither fish nor fowl as a protagonist for whom the audience is supposed to support as he seeks first a cure for his disease and then a cure for his vampirism. The part of a sympathetic vampire, on the other hand, necessitates something operatic: a Jonathan Frid flash of charisma, if not Tom Cruise’s full wattage. Instead, Michael Morbius is, like everything else in his film, merely incidental. While a result, moviegoers have nothing to hold to as the boredom continues, courtesy of a dull storyline that gathers banalities like seashells.