Review: Venom

One of the most iconic and fan-favorite comic book villains of all time slithered onto the big screen in his own movie this weekend, and not even the super-heroic acting chops of Tom Hardy could rescue this disaster.

Hey everybody! Sorry for my long and unexplained absence. I want to say that I've jut been busy with buying a home and moving and work, but really I just haven't had the motivation to write any reviews lately. But I'm back! And wow, did I pick one fantastic movie to come back with. Having read multiple reviews of this film beforehand, I knew this movie was not going to be good going into it. I held out hope that it could be one of those "so bad it's good" flicks, but in the end, it's just bad.

"Venom" stars Tom Hardy as talented journalist Eddie Brock who comes into contact with a vicious alien symbiote. Together they become the titular anti-hero and must fight side-by-side to save the world from annihilation. I think. Honestly writing that last sentence was pretty tough because the plot was pretty incoherent at times.

Alright, let me start with what I actually did like about this movie. It won't take long. Tom Hardy is a fantastic actor and he really gives it his all for this role. The sad truth is that the script fails him miserably. Eddie Brock should be a hardened, driven, no-nonsense guy who after being disgraced becomes jaded and vengeful. But this movie turns him into a loser. And what's worse is that the other characters (including the symbiote) comment on him being a loser multiple times. It makes him hard to root for, but I will say that Hardy did his best to deliver the lines with gusto.

Once Brock actually becomes infected with the Symbiote (which feels like it takes an hour just to get to that point) I thought things might start getting interesting. And they did...sort of. Once Venom starts talking in Eddie's head, the movie does have a few entertaining scenes as we watch bumbling Eddie play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with the alien parasite that is taking control of his body. There's a lot of potential there, but nothing great ever comes of it as most of those scenes are played for humor that feels forced and falls flat most of the time. Their unique relationship isn't developed enough, so the antihero's climax feels like it comes out of nowhere and leaves the audience thinking "wait, what!?"

In addition to Hardy, this movie also stars Michelle Williams as Eddie's love interest and Riz Ahmed as the generic corporate bad guy. Both are great actors, but again the script lets them down. The characters are underdeveloped and the dialogue is so childish that it's hard to pay attention to whatever is happening on screen. Ahmed plays Carlton Drake, the sinister super rich business guy responsible for bringing the symbiotes to Earth. Throughout the whole film I really had no clue exactly what his motivations were. He comes off as a weird Dr. Frankenstein/Lex Luthor hybrid that wants things to go his way for some reasons I never understood.

As far as the action in this movie...it's alright. While watching the film, I kept thinking that maybe when Eddie finally becomes Venom things will get better...but they just got worse. Like I said above, it feels like forever to get to the first scene where Venom unleashes his powers, but when we get there then the action sequences are too chaotic and mindless to be entertaining. There is one particular chase scene featuring exploding drones that is so ridiculous it's laughable. The film definitely struggles against its PG-13 rating. There was so much potential wasted because they couldn't show any blood. Venom is the perfect villain for an R-rated movie but they effectively neutered him. People get their heads bitten off, but you wouldn't know for sure because it happens off-screen. The CGI isn't terrible, but it's not great either. The combination of the slimy black CGI with the fact that most of the fight scenes happen at night, in the dark, with poor lighting make it hard to see what's even happening at some points.

Perhaps the biggest problem with this movie is its distinct absence of anything Spider-man related. Venom is supposed to be the complete antithesis of Spider-Man. Without the web-slinger around, this whole movie feels so underwhelming. It left me wondering why Sony would make a Venom movie when they know they loaned out their wall crawler rights to Marvel. Makes no sense. It's especially tough to bear after finishing playing the super awesome Spider-Man video game that just came out for PS4. I kept praying the hero would swing in for a cameo to save this movie but it never comes, so don't get your hopes up. You would think that after terribly shoehorning Venom into 2007's "Spider-Man 3" they would've tried harder to give the titular character his time to shine.

So I know I've talked a lot about how bad this movie is but I do want to emphasize that there were some small glimmers of good. Tom Hardy really did do the best he could with what he was given and I am interested in seeing where he takes the character if a sequel is made. If you turn your brain off, and go in seriously not expecting much, you might enjoy this flick. There is a mid-credits scene that teases a future that genuinely did make me excited for a sequel. But when your mid-credits scene is the most interesting part of your movie, that's not a good thing.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Chaotic action, thinly written characters, and a ridiculous plot all add up to make "Venom" an underwhelming and disappointing time that makes you wish an alien symbiote would infect your body, just so you could feel something.

OVERALL GRADE: D

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