E's Reviews: VENOM (Warning: Minor Spoilers Ahead)

Well that was...interesting...?

VENOM is directed by Ruben Fleischer and stars Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed and is about a down-on-his-luck investigative reporter, Eddie Brock, who is dragged into a plot to destroy mankind using these alien parasites known as symbiotes who, when bonded with the right person, grant them superhuman strength, speed, and other abilities, but also eats them from the inside out in order to survive. VENOM is also a part of Sony’s expanded Amazing Spider-Man universe.

I’m a huge fan of the character ever since the 1980s when he was first introduced in the comics. Venom was a very cool, very badass villain that would torment Spider-Man every time he showed up in a story arc. Sometimes he’d be there as a hero, most times a villain, but always very chaotic and unpredictable. He was also a bit creepy, due to his love of eating people’s organs...that was pretty messed up. He also had this monstrous look, what with the big grin filled with sharp teeth and his clawed hands. He was, for all intents and purposes, a monster, which is what I expected out of this movie...I wanted to see a monster.

For the most part, we get that. We see Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) get taken over by this parasite, this alien, and become a monster. Except this monster isn’t even scary. Venom is actually a little different than his comic book counterpart, where instead of talking about what organs to eat, he makes jokes. I mean, sure, the jokes were funny and the audience I saw the film with responded positively to them, but sometimes there were maybe too many jokes? I wanted the movie to be maybe a bit more serious so it could actually do the character justice. Instead, I got a by-the-numbers “superhero” movie which could’ve 100% been better if it had gone with the original R-rating they had promised when filming began. We’ve already seen rated ‘R’ superhero films do very very well (Logan, Deadpool) and this is one that would’ve benefited from just going all out. This is something we most definitely didn’t get.
As far as the technical aspects of the film that bothered me, the final fight between the “hero” and villain was just really hard to follow at times, brought me straight out of the movie, and it was just way overdone with CGI. The performance of Michelle Williams was really atrocious, as she was clearly one of the most annoying characters I’ve seen in cinema in a long while. The plot could have been better had it taken a darker, more serious tone, but alas, they’re trying to get kids to see this since, you know, it’s part of Spidey’s universe and Spidey is a “kid’s” character. For the things I did like, I thought Tom Hardy was okay as Venom. Like I said earlier, the jokes Venom made were just maybe a bit too much. I liked how the symbiotes looked, I liked the little after credits scene that gave us a glimpse at what could be coming soon (and it probably will what with this movie on pace to make a buttload of money at the box office this weekend), and I did overall enjoy the action and the effects.

But there was something about it that really really bothered me. Sure, it was okay, it’s totally a watchable film, but it felt very lackluster. I needed more. I needed a darker tone. The movie needed R-rated violence and blood. It needed some scares. I didn’t get what I needed out of it, and my rating for this movie is totally based on how I felt after walking out of the theater. You know that feeling...where your heart’s still pumping and you’re totally psyched and amped up after seeing a really great action/horror/sci fi film? Yeah, I didn’t get it after this movie. I actually spent quite a while trying to understand why, and maybe it’s because I’m such a huge fan of the character, that I ultimately left disappointed.

Venom is in theaters now, check it out and form your own opinion for yourself. Let me know what you thought on Twitter (@EnzosReviews) or comment below. Thanks for reading!

Final Score: 6.5/10