The last time movie audiences saw the villainous Venom was in 2007’s misfire Spider-Man 3. Since his introduction in Spider-Man comics in the ’80s, he has long been a fan favorite, which is why it was so disappointing to see his character pile on the poor quality that already hurt that movie.
Now, Sony is so eager to build a spider cinematic universe with the Marvel characters it still owns, that they’ll jump at the chance to push out anything remotely recognizable. Enter Venom…
Venom stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, a freelance reporter who always wants to get the real story and expose corruption where he can. He lives a simple life with his fiance Anne (Michelle Williams) and gets the chance to expose extremely wealthy and powerful, Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) for his unethical business practices. Think, Elon Musk but no one trusts him and he wants to start his own space missions. Oh wait, yeah, it’s just Elon Musk.
One thing leads to another and an alien symbiote attaches itself to Eddie and the insanity officially begins. Eddie now speaks with two minds and loses control of his body as the alien suit takes over.
Sony is in an interesting place as they can’t use their rebooted version of Spider-Man as part of the origin for Venom, as Spider-kid is currently on loan to Disney. So, they have to change the character of Venom to be a stand-alone character. Add to that, he also needs to be the protagonist.
The way the alien parasites are introduced manages to be good for movie audiences who are not familiar with the source material. Though, instead of being a gradually-corruptive parasite, Venom has to influence Eddie quickly, mostly to keep the audience awake. It takes a solid half hour, but when Eddie has to deal with the overbearing voice in his head, the movie finally begins.
It’s a completely unique direction as far as the typical comic book flick is concerned, but the counter-play between a disheveled Tom Hardy and an overbearing alien inner voice plays off like a monstrous buddy cop movie. Audiences will be split on how the comedy between these two is played out, but it actually gives the movie some personality and salvages it from being a run-of-the-mill comic flick. Hardy is clearly better than the source material, but seems to be having a blast in the role.
If this were a one man play, this would have been a better movie, because everyone else is entirely wasted and most attempts at dialogue are laughable. Michelle Williams, who is so outstanding, is clearly just here to check off the box on her resume that says she was in a super movie once. Ahmed’s performance as Drake could have gone somewhere great but is never truly developed. Instead, elements of the movie are rushed just to get everyone to the big alien goo battle at the end.
It is fun to see Venom in full suit mode. The character model is everything a comic geek has always wanted to see on the big screen. Yet, the action here is nothing notable. This movie relies on distracting quick cuts and forgettable fights where monsters are fighting and you can’t tell who’s who.
Here’s the thing, comic book fans kinda need to see this movie just to see a semi-faithful version of the character on the big screen. There’s fun to be had for sure. This is the type of movie I would have loved at the age of 13, in spite of anything critics would have said. Yet, the adult in me (a small but cynical part) can see that Venom is rushed and doesn’t know exactly what it wants to be. I appreciated Hardy and his comedic take, but I probably laughed even harder at the unintentional bad dialogue. C-
Comments are closed.