Published in the Bells on October 10, 2018
As the main protagonist said in the trailer for this move “we all have our own problems,” as he is right. I defiantly have one. This movie.
Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios collaborated to make the movie Venom which was released on October 5, 2018, with low reviews from critics. Even though Marvel and Sony teamed up to make this movie, Venom is not connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in any way. Warning that there is a very minor spoiler below.
While this PG-13 Superhero spinoff wasn’t bad, it wasn’t all that good either. Don’t get me wrong there were a few good things about he movie but overall, I felt it was a lackluster movie that could have been better. The move was really slow at the beginning and then, once venom was introduced, it was like whiplash as everything was now sped up and squished together.
The protagonist is of the movie is yet another journalist, Eddie brock (played by Tom Hardy), who digs too deep of a hole to get out of at the beginning of the movie trying to get evidence of misconduct in the famed ‘Life Foundation.” While investigating, he becomes the host for the alien symbiote that is venom. With venom’s help, brock now has the power to stop whatever shady business that the Life foundation is doing.
While the movie was easy to follow at the beginning and did a good enough job explain the alien issue so that I wasn’t totally lost, but there were still moments that left me confused. For example, it is made apparent that these alien symbiotes can transfer between hosts and that these are living things. This is also made clear in the trailer when Eddie refers to himself as ‘we’ before engaging in a fight with the bad guys.
(Minor Spoiler Alert) The movie explains that the symbiote is bonding with the host to live and no matter what the host will slowly die. The writers didn’t do a good job explaining why some hosts die immediately after the alien is transferred and others lived. My friend and I discussed this issue at the end and we came up with a semi-reasonable explanation, but it is just speculation at this point.
One thing I liked was how venom was a separate entity and would converse with Eddie. It was wasn’t a situation like in Spiderman, where Peter was bitten and suddenly had powers for himself. The dialog was interesting, comical at times, and very believable. Tom Hardy’s acting was great when it came down to it. His emotions were very up front and I liked that, but I didn’t like Eddie as a character. He was sloppy, a little dopey, and not the anti-hero type. Another thing I thought was a fun addition was the use of Easter eggs from the comic books.
This movie had some pretty well-done fight scenes. The scenes with venom transforming and controlling different parts of Eddie’s body as CGI were smooth and fun to watch. In truth, all the graphics used for Venom as Eddie’s “suit” were wonderfully put together. Other effects in the movie like explosions, car chases, and fight scenes without the use of venom were a little sloppier but could have been better with a few adjustments.
Overall, Venom didn’t live up to what I had hoped and I have to give it a 5 out of 10 stars.
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