Daniel Espinosa

In Morbius (2022), two friends share a history of suffering that ought to give the vampire story some weight. Espinosa spends too little time developing their friendship, then asks us to sit through fights that become difficult to follow. We were bored by their repetition, and frustrated that the film had already supplied a better reason to keep watching. This is where our reservations about him begin: he recognises a promising human connection and then neglects it.

The earlier work helps explain why that failure is frustrating. Easy Money (2010), which he also wrote, made his name with fast-paced Swedish crime drama. Safe House (2012) took him to Hollywood and paired him with Denzel Washington, whose committed performance suited a director interested in people under duress. Child 44 (2015) and Life (2017) followed. The claustrophobic tension of Life is a sensible use of his ability to keep people under pressure within a genre story.

The actors are not the reason Morbius fails: Jared Leto takes the material seriously, while Matt Smith finds some fun in it. Espinosa can get commitment from a cast, but commitment has limited value when the writing gives a relationship so little room to develop. His preference for grounded genre filmmaking ought to help here, where shared suffering gives the horror a personal starting point. Instead, the action is hard to read and repetitive, so even the basic pleasure of a fight is lost.

Madame Luna (2024), which he also wrote, and the television series The Helicopter Heist (2024) mark a return to European work. That makes sense for a director drawn to outsiders with understandable motives, and gives us a reason to remain interested after Morbius. We would welcome more time spent on those motives, though a change of continent does not guarantee better decisions about what to leave on screen. Start with Easy Money if the vampire thriller has put you off him.