Login
"Venom" is something of an unfortunate film that just so happens to not be incredibly dull and feature a big, gooey monster that the public loves because of this it seems to have gotten a pass from many people but certainly not from me. Though I don't revile it, the film certainly left me feeling like I'd wasted two hours of valuable time on something uncertain of itself and incredibly vacuous.
The movie deals with intrepid, but cowardly, reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) who bonds with an alien parasite that was brought to earth by what basically amounts to an evil Elon Musk. It is, at it's core, an origin story that really just serves as a setup for sequels more than anything.
First things first, if you're expecting something loyal to the comics you won't find a scintilla of it here. That is absolutely fine by me so under no circumstances believe that painted my opinion of it. I actually think the Venom character in the comics is pretty much all show and no substance and could use some major retooling. Well, he is in fact reworked in this movie, it just so happens that this job is approached in the most generic way possible.
The movie's biggest issue is how shockingly predictable, bland, and dated it is. When the final credits rolled it all began to make sense. The entire time I was thinking "this is like an Avi Arad superhero movie" and, sure enough, he was a producer on this just like he was on the ham-fisted, weak, pre-MCU Marvel movie offerings of the early 2000s. The setups for future scenes are so obvious that when they happen they are robbed of any impact because, quite simply, you expected them the very moment they were so transparently hinted at. The humor is not only horrendously bad but already feels like it won't hold up by the end of the year. Hell, it does't hold up upon first viewing. Most, glaringly, the entire story arch is your run of the mill origin framework, complete with paper thin romantic interest and cookie cutter corporate villain.
Another huge issue with the film is its apparent lack of self-identity. At times it feels like it's a sci-fi film, at others like a horror film, sometimes it's a "wacky comedy", and doing a woeful job of putting all this mush together is the arching superhero movie framework. None of these styles ever gel entirely and the film goes from one to the other without much resolve to give any of them sufficient substance.
"Venom" is also an ugly film. The cinematography can't even be called bland as it's more washed out and lifeless and, since the mood doesn't match this aesthetic, it feels out of place. To add insult to injury, the effects in this movie are so obviously reined in as a cost-cutting measure that you kind of feel robbed having seen a movie called Venom but rarely ever seeing him. This could all work if they built up anticipation for Venom's appearance but the films scattershot nature and predictability only make you hope that Venom's arrival or sudden appearance will save you for the purgatory of non-descript "blah" that the film serves up.
I digress because the effects deserve a bit more criticism. This is a superhero film about a character that is incredibly visual. The least you could do if you're so hell bent on making the movie as generic as possible is offer up spectacular effects and action. Alas, they don't even bother with this. The bulk of the effects are the equivalent of early 2000's cheap CGI. In fact, I would say they're worse because they made zero effort to make them blend organically with their surroundings. Almost every effect looks poorly superimposed over the real locations or people. It never looks like Venom is IN Eddie Brock but more cheapl laid over him. When Venom is fully himself he just looks like a big, gooey mass of unrealistic slime that fights another bucket of ooze. These effects might of been impressive circa 2004. Now, they are utter garbage.
The character work in this movie is also vexing at times and downright phoned in at others. It's not that the actors are bad, it's that their characters are so weak that you feel like you're watching fluff. The only exception is Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom. If one thing kept me interested in this movie it's Hardy. Hardy is one of our best actors and I wish i could say that my interest in him was because he was the diamond in the rough of this flick, alas that is not the case. The reason i was so interested is because his portrayal of Brock is so confusingly, jarringly strange that you can't help but look on like you would as you pass a car accident. From the strange choice of accent to his intentional AND inadvertent comedic displays, Hardy remains interesting enough to make you hang around till the end. I wish that was praise but it's really not.
Ultimately, "Venom" is exactly what we've come to expect from from Sony. Superficial, low effort, generic nonsense meant to appease popcorn munchers with no investment in good or even entertaining movies. No R-Rating could of saved this mess because the flaws are inherent in it's script. I wish it was even slightly good enough to warrant a rewatch but it left me so empty that it won't even get that in the near future. "Venom" is the type of comic movie we've evolved from long ago and for good reason....this type of movie is just bad. 3/10
