Venom

Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, Melora Walters, Woody Harrelson (cameo), Sam Medina
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) merges with an alien symbiote to become the powerful Venom.

Review:

Tim: Venom is one of the coolest characters in the pantheon of Marvel characters and he didn't receive a proper big screen treatment in Spider-Man 3. Unfortunately, Sony continues to not know how to leverage the Marvel characters because this solo adventure isn't nearly good enough. Sadly, this film made a ridiculous amount of money, so Sony won't learn from the mistakes here and we'll get a likely inferior sequel in the next three years or so. Now, to be fair, Venom isn't a terrible movie. I suppose it's decent in its own way. Still, it's hard not to watch this film and wish that Venom was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For comparison's sake, I would rate this movie below every single one of the 20 films released in the MCU. That's a fairly bitter pill to swallow.

The movie did a few things right. Casting Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock was a good move. While I didn't love his performance, I think that had more to do with the script than with Hardy. Hardy embodies the spirit of Eddie Brock and remains one of the stronger aspects of the film. Unfortunately, I don't believe Brock was handled quite properly here. He wasn't an especially likable or sympathetic character. I didn't really become invested in his story. That's part of the problem with making a solo Venom movie. Eddie Brock isn't a good guy. Venom isn't a hero. And yet, this film tries to skirt that line. Brock isn't likable, but we're supposed to care about him and root for him anyway. Venom is definitely an antihero, but he acts fairly heroically (although the script tries to make it seem self-serving). It just doesn't work nearly as well as it needed to.

Continuing with the casting, I was impressed the film got Michelle Williams, but it far underutilized her. I was disappointed she really didn't have much to do. Plus, the way she's shoehorned into the climax of the film felt forced and lacked any believability. It was really quick shocking how shoddy her character's story unfolded. It felt like the script needed to completely rethink how to portray her character. The way they chose did not work. I liked the casting of Riz Ahmed because it was different than the typical antagonist role we see in these movies. Unfortunately, again- his character didn't align with his strengths. I never really believed him in this role. He made a pretty forgettable villain. Jenny Slate was okay, but I continue to be unimpressed by her. Really, the entire cast wasn't leveraged nearly as well as they needed to be. The one highlight is the casting for the mid-credits scene. That was pretty awesome.

I can't say I was a huge fan of the story, but it was fine. The Life Foundation, the alien symbiotes, I never really believed any of it, but it wasn't so ridiculous that it took me out of the film. Riot was a bit of a lackluster villain for the first film, but it makes sense to save Venom's greatest enemy for the sequel. The climax on the spaceship felt a bit disappointing.

I wasn't a fan of how the relationship between Eddie Brock and Venom was depicted. It felt odd to hear Venom's voice and he uttered some pretty terrible dialogue. I don't know who was writing the comedic lines between these two, but it was often awful. It really wasn't very funny at all. That's probably the most disappointing thing. Now, I will give this film credit because it got a lot closer to the comics' Venom than the first appearance. That is definitely a positive attribute of this film. However, Venom is so unbelievably cool in the comics and that just didn't translate here. He's fine, he's okay, but never more than that.

Marvel really ruined us with their insane run of great or very good films. Venom feels like a film that would have fit before the MCU came into existence. It feels like a film that was run by another studio that only had a cursory understanding of the characters. We're still waiting for the definitive version of Venom, because this movie doesn't deliver that. While the set up for Carnage in the sequel is cool, I lament the fact that Sony will probably screw that up. The Venom-Carnage clash is one of the greatest in all of comics and although part of me is ecstatic to see it on the big screen, I have to believe it will underwhelm me.

Now, I know I have some bias because I love the MCU so much, but I've enjoyed many of Fox's X-Men movies. I don't have an unfair bias here- Venom isn't good enough.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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