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Synopsis: Eddie Brock, an investigative journalist, tries to take down the sinister Life corporation with the aid of an alien symbiote called Venom which both helps and intoxicates him with unstoppable and uncontrollable power.
Venom is probably the most surprising movie I saw all year. I was expecting to hate it but left the theater delightfully surprised. In our current movie-watching experience, in which every other movie is either a gritty dark ball of angst or a world-ending mega-franchise, it’s nice to see a genuinely fun movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
I’ll start with the movie’s flaws. Although it is an entertaining ride through and through, it is not without errors. There were about 40 minutes cut from the movie, which is expected to meet the time limit. There were, unfortunately, some important chunks of development that were cut as well.
Eddie Brock’s pre-Venom life is not seen as much as it should have been. It’s hard for an audience to feel what a character is going through if you didn’t have a stable first act to base that on, no matter how good your lead actor’s acting chops are. We know next to nothing about Eddie’s personal life, other than his relationship and his job. Frankly, sometimes it seems like the movie was started in the middle and we missed a large portion of both Eddie’s life and his character development.
There were some missed opportunities and some characters that were not at all used to their full potential. The antagonist, played by the fantastic Riz Ahmed, really doesn’t have the onscreen presence he is supposed to have even though the entire movie makes it clear multiple times he is supposed to be quite intimidating. This isn’t by any means the actor’s fault this is simply because the character isn’t given much to do. In fact, that’s the case for most of the supporting cast with the exception of Michelle Williams’ character.
Another issue I had with this movie were the fight scenes, although this might just be a personal problem since I haven’t really heard anyone mention it. The visual effects were sometimes too artificial looking and it threw me off. I know that someone’s suspension of disbelief should be the factor that lets you overlook stuff like that but, in certain parts, it was too much and I just didn’t believe it, especially because the fight scenes occurred in pivotal plot points and are used as a tool to move the story forward.
Something else that held this movie back was it’s PG-13 rating. With an R rating it could have been really able to explore the forceful and destructive character that is Venom. (add to this part)
But its flaws are nothing compared to the things it gets right. Tom Hardy brings a refreshing comedic look at the “superhero” mythos if Venom can be classified as a hero. This is Hardy like you’ve never seen him before. Any type of cool-guy suave he has in prior movies or real life is thrown out completely and replaced with this big man baby that results in a hilarious cocktail of cringe and brilliance. Hardy really embraces the weirdness of this movie and wears it like a real-life venom suit that gives this movie that secret ingredient movies need to stand out.
I won’t go into specifics but there’s one scene involving Hardy, a restaurant, and some lobsters that in itself is worth the ticket fee.
Hardy’s brilliant performance is only made shine even brighter by his co-star, the venom symbiote, who is, ironically, voiced by Hardy as well. The interactions between Eddie Brock and the symbiote are funnier than any buddy comedy made in the past 10 years. It really is amazing seeing this already silly and strange man child-character interact with a body-controlling alien organism which is surprisingly nuanced and not two-dimensional, but is just as weird and silly as he is. Any scene when those two characters are alone together completely throws the movie off the rails and it’s a fantastic ride seeing them play out. It’s funny and heartwarming to see how these two characters deeply relate to each other.
Venom really is October’s movie and the best part is it has something for everyone. Do you want romance? Done. A Part action part thriller? Yup. Comedy? I really recommend watching the restaurant scene. Maybe you’re in the Halloween spirit and want some spooky stuff. Well, Venom has some subtle body horror that will satisfy that horror-hungry void inside you.
In all seriousness, though, grab a friend this weekend and go watch the new Venom movie because it will seriously be a fun hour and thirty minutes. Hey, maybe if you end up not liking it, you can agree with every other internet critic out there that are hating on this adorably hilarious movie, so at least there’s that?
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