Morbius director Daniel Espinosa reacts to the film’s negative reviews. Morbius is the latest of the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe movies, which so far includes only the two Venom films. The film follows biochemist Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), who accidentally infects himself with a form of vampirism while attempting to cure his rare blood disease. After a very long wait, Morbius officially hit theaters last Friday, and since its release, its reception has been less than enthusiastic to say the least.
Morbius’ paltry critical reception is just the latest in a long line of issues the movie has had to deal with. It’s hard to believe, but Espinosa’s project actually began filming before the MCU’s smash-hit Avengers: Endgame was released in theaters, back in 2019. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Morbius release date was pushed back multiple times, until it finally opened on April 1. Some people have pointed to the fact that the film sat finished but unreleased for nearly two years as a reason for its poor reception, wondering if maybe Morbius had missed its window of hype. Others, however, have just plain disliked the movie, and Morbius’ Rotten Tomatoes score currently sits at a franchise-low 17%.
In a recent interview with Insider, Espinosa discusses his reaction to the poor Morbius reviews. The director has been making movies for some time, and says it remains a “strange thing to make something that is so public.” He admits that he harbors a lot of “self-hatred,” which causes him to be quite critical of his own work, though he says both his and other’s criticisms force him to always try and be better. With that said, Espinosa also claims he is proud of the work he does, and no matter what people think of one of his films, he can always find parts of them to be proud of. See his full quote below:
The point I’m making is that it’s a strange thing to make something that is so public. Look, I have a lot of self-hatred, so I have a lot of criticism of my own work. I’m always trying to focus on being better. But I am also proud of what I do. There are parts in all of my movies that I’m really proud of.
Espinosa’s attitude towards his work is quite inspiring. While Morbius has not been received well by critics, from Espinosa’s point of view, he has simply been shown things that he can attempt to improve on next time he sets out to make a film. While others may give up, he endures, and while some may not have liked Morbius, perhaps they will enjoy more of his work in the future.
With that said, despite many negative reviews, Morbius‘ opening weekend box office finished at #1, and while it was far from a peak performance for a Marvel film, it still was somewhat successful. There have even been some rumors floating around about a possible Morbius sequel, so it could turn out that the franchise isn’t dead quite yet. Perhaps Espinosa will get a chance to try out what he learned on his first Morbius film with a sequel. Until then, comic book fans can go see Morbius in theaters now, and decide if they agree with the critics.
Source: Insider
- Kraven the Hunter (2023)Release date: Jan 13, 2023
