After watching what is undoubtedly the film of the millennium so far I decided to dedicate this masturbiece the attention it merits and write up a multi-part critique or rather an encomium. However, as with most works of high art, the of Morbius has been lost on the profane masses and so I recognise the need to quickly address some crude misconceptions about Morbius (the film) before delving deeper into the more profound aspects of this production in subsequent blog posts.
Firstly, the opening sequence with jungle, waterfalls, vampire bats and music ripped from Hans Zimmer's Batman and Blade Runner themes, cleverly remixed to evade copyright is essential and far from wasted screen time, as some ignoramuses claim. In it, the might of nature is driven home and sets the stage for the dominant theme of the film. Dr Morbius MD, in whom man and nature will have to find reconciliation, is introduced against this backdrop and almost immediately human technology is tested to its limit, when the helicopter in which Dr Morbius MD arrived is swarmed by bats. The unfavourable comparison between humans, who need to rely on technology for flight, and bats, which have evolved to fly, evading the industrial revolution and its consequences, is immediately apparent to all erudite viewers.
Some philistines also found issue with the allegedly pointless naming of fictitious locations, however this could not be further from the truth. Take “Cerro de la Muerte” (hill of death in Spanish), this is a crystal clear reference to Golgotha and by extension to Christian eschatology. Those who understand this will also capture the true meaning of the weak and frail doctor with blood problems cutting his hand to attract vampire bats, mimicking Christ's stigmata. Why else would Jared Leto of all actors be cast as the title character if not for his long hair and Jesus-associated facial furniture?
Next up we have the mouse which apparently dies upon being injected with hybridised vampire bat cells, only to return to mouse well-being after Dr Morbius MD puts a pickaninny in comatose for its own good. This has been ridiculed by half-witted goons for being a plot-hole, since the mouse ought to subsequently Morb out, warning Dr Morbius MD of the dangers of Morbing. Those more versed in zoology will immediately pick up the flaw in this reasoning (or lack thereof): the mouse and the bat are much closer together in evolutionary history, allowing for a more harmonious reconciliation of vampirism in the mouse than in the man. That a Nobel Prize-nominated scientist overlooked this would be surprising if not for the fact that this itself is a reference to Robert Burns' poem “To a Mouse”, which ends with the stanzas:
But Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes of mice and men
Go oft awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
Still you are blessed, compared with me!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!
Since Morbius was aimed at an elite audience it goes without saying that those unaware of deep Morbius lore were left bemused at the peculiar sequence of events which followed Dr Morbius MD's first Morbout on a ship. The initial Morb-moment was foreshadowed by a flicker of the light, alerting the mercenaries of trouble. Only keen viewers were able to appreciate the fidelity of the script to the source material; when humans Morb out for the first time, this meddles with the electromagnetic filed, causing lights to flicker, a phenomenon which we were introduced to twice, once when Dr Morbius MD Morbs and then when Milo-Lucian Morbs out and sucks out a brown tomboy single milf of two in a dark corridor.
Apart from philosophy, theology, poetry and Morbius lore, the film makes a statement about the medium itself. Take for example the scene when detective Rodrigues shakes a litter box (!) to gain the attention of a cat, and, upon failing to do so, explains this as indicative of the cat's absence. This is what is know as a Lynchian moment, a reference to the work of pioneering director David Lynch, who frequently forces the viewer to question their own sanity for coming to the movie theatre by means of scenes that seem suspiciously silly. The scene however runs much deeper, being in fact poignant criticism of police brutality in the US of A. For the police officer, absence of evidence is the evidence of absence, his actions stem from epistemological foundations which warrant not only extreme relativism, but constructed relativism, allowing the police to quite literally manipulate reality to their benefit and, for example, plant drugs on people of colour, believe that they are in fact apprehending a criminal and then executing them like they did George Floyd. This is not the only time Morbius offers a critique of power: Dr Morbius MD disses the monarch of an authoritarian shithole: Sweden.
There are many more instances of directing and writing in the film Morbius and it will no doubt take many years to bring the numerous dimwits who question this into the light. This process however starts here and I am honoured to be among the first to offer a brief introduction to this epoch-making film. Stay posted for subsequent entries on the Morbius universe. It's Morbin' time!
