Despite the numerous concerning reviews it received, I decided to give Sony a chance and see their newest collaboration with Marvel’s “Venom.” I have never been the biggest fan of Marvel movies.
Time and time again, their dialogue is predictable, their characters are clichéd, and their action scenes are overly dramatic. “Venom” was no exception.
That being said, Venom made me gasp at its tasteful use of gore and chuckle at its darkly comical dialogue. It had me quite literally on the edge of my seat for a number of scenes.
“Venom” stars Tom Hardy, an actor known for his performances in “The Revenant,” “Mad Max,” “Dunkirk,” and many other critically-acclaimed films. In “Venom,” Hardy delivers an excellent representation of Eddie Brock, a disgraced investigative journalist who is infected with a parasitic alien creature that calls itself Venom.
The movie’s best scenes were those in which Eddie has been made Venom’s host, unbeknownst to Eddie. The pure chaos of following scenes is delightfully unnerving, as Eddie desperately tries to sate what he doesn’t yet realize is a hunger for flesh. Hardy does a fantastic job portraying Eddie as the “loser” that the directors wanted him to be. Hardy is wild-eyed in more scenes than not after he loses everything dear to him and helplessly desperate as he struggles to figure out what is wrong with him.
Another enjoyable aspect of the movie was the relationship between Venom and Eddie Brock. Venom takes a liking to Eddie rather quickly, which, although it allowed for some entertaining interactions between the two, was a rushed and somewhat awkward aspect of the film. Venom goes very quickly from viewing Eddie as no more than a host to having arguably romantic feelings towards him, and even demonstrates affection towards other humans, including Eddie’s ex-fiancée.
The film’s fight scenes are fun and fast-paced, though the car chase scenes took up far more of the movie than necessary, using time which would have been better used to give viewers more time to see Venom and Eddie interact.
If you’re looking for a fast-paced, creepy, darkly comedic movie, “Venom” is the film you’ll want to see, but only for the last 45 minutes.
The film spent most of its duration introducing characters and setting a scene for the final symbiosis of Venom and Eddie Brock, when what most moviegoers really wanted to see was Eddie/Venom kicking bad-guy butt, and maybe biting off a head or two in the meantime.
All that being said, I had an absolute blast watching this movie and hope Sony is able to get the funding to go further with Venom/ Eddie’s character, perhaps even introducing SpiderMan into the story and playing more off of Eddie’s anti-hero qualities.
I give Venom a 7/10 and would absolutely watch it again.
