MORBIUS

Cert 15

104 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong threat, horror, violence

Is anyone else beginning to think these Marvel films are becoming rather samey?

If I had never seen the like before I would have been entranced by Morbius but vampire films have been around for 90 years and folk flying through the air on the big screen is almost humdrum nowadays.

Thus, during large sections of Daniel Espinosa's movie, I felt myself thinking: "Been there, done that."

It stars Jared Leto as the title character who suffers a blood disease which leaves him disabled as a child.

In hospital he meets another lad who suffers similarly and they become lifelong friends.

The plot moves on to adulthood when Morbius is a respected doctor who, along with his colleague (Adria Arjona) has discovered a potential cure for his condition.

Alas, the side effect is that he is turned into a vampire.

He attempts, relatively successfully,  to control the urges this brings but then tells his old pal (Matt Smith) and the latter wants to cure himself too.

And, hey presto, blood-sucking mayhem begins.

Morbius may well excite the Marvel fans who see it as an important addition because of the way it links with the others in its stable.

For me its attraction as a standalone movie lays with the intense performances of the ever-reliable Leto as well as Smith who makes an unexpectedly good villain.

However, there was so little that we haven't seen before that I was prompted to wonder when the Marvel bubble will burst.

I hope the studios will understand history and realise that, as with all fashions, the bubble will burst sooner or later.

Nevertheless, Morbius has made enough money to suggest that time is not yet.