Morbius Star Says Spider-Man Spinoff Isn’t Bad, Just Edited Too Much

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Morbius star Al Madrigal says the Spider-Man spinoff isn't as bad as everyone claims and was weakened by overzealous editors. Morbius was released on April 1, 2022 to overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and audiences, with many taking issue with the screenplay, outdated effects, and flat performances. However, the film still grossed over $150 million at the box office, with the movie coming away profitable after being made on an $83 million dollar budget.

 

Morbius follows Dr. Morbius (Jared Leto) who is afflicted with transgenic vampirism after trying to cure his rare blood disease. The film also stars Matt Smith as Morbius' best friend, who suffers from the same disease, as well as Madrigal as Alberto Rodriguez, an FBI agent hunting Morbius. Despite lackluster reviews and box office receipts, Sony still plans to feature the character in its upcoming Spider-Man shared universe.

 

In an interview with CBM, Madrigal talks about how, in his opinion, the film wasn't as bad as most people claim it is. He says a lot of his scenes, in particular, were left out of the movie, including a fight scene with Smith that was seen in the trailers, as well as some of his comic relief moments. He says that due to COVID, the film was in post-production for a much longer period, with the editors having too much time to meddle with it, making the film worse as a result. Read his quote below:

 

First of all, Morbius: not as bad as everybody is making it out to be. Sure, it had problems and they diced it up quite a bit. I had some hilarious lines that were cut out of that movie. I was very funny...I got butchered in that thing. I think that’s what they did. They just really…because of COVID, they just had so much time to mess with it. They really messed with it.

 

The fact that Morbius was shot in 2019 and didn't see release for three years suggests that COVID wasn't the only factor for the film's long post-production period, with reshoots happening as late as February 2021. Though the film might have been improved with a tighter turnaround, the fact that it kept getting pushed back even before COVID speaks for itself. There have been plenty of films delayed by COVID, but the pandemic itself didn't necessarily make any of those films worse.

It's true editing can play a major role in how a film is received, but the best editing in the world can't fix a weak story, flat performances, and outdated effects. There are plenty of thoughts and opinions on why Morbius turned out the way it did, and one of them certainly is the lack of a concrete vision that led to a drawn-out production process. Despite the efforts of actors like Madrigal, Morbius is widely regarded as a weak Spider-Man spinoff, and hopefully, Sony can use it as a learning experience.

 

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