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Do have a fondness for superhero films. 'Venom' also had talented people in the cast, Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams have both done great work in their careers, it looked interesting and found myself really fascinated to watch an origins story of one of the most interesting anti-heroes in the superhero universe.
Watched 'Venom' with reasonably high expectations and with the willingness, as always, to judge the film for myself and form my own opinion. Was aware that it was not well liked by the critics, but part of me was really hoping to disagree with the thought that could a film with so much potential be worse than it actually looked? Have to agree with those that were left disappointed, while also not finding 'Venom' to be that bad. Am not though going to join in the irritatingly excessive critic bashing from people who really need to start learning the difference between fact and opinion.
'Venom' does have good things. It is at its best in the scenes and chemistry between Eddie and Venom, which had fun and tension. It is when Venom arrives on screen too when the film properly starts to generate interest, after too long struggling to invest in the first act. The darker elements of the film are actually quite well done, having a dark grit and creepiness. It looks reasonably good, well designed and shot with slickness and atmosphere.
The music has pleasant moments and fits well while there is some exciting action, especially the car chase sequence. Some of the effects are terrific. Tom Hardy is intensely charismatic, with Eddie/Venom being interesting and well contrasted characters, far more believable than Topher Grace in 'Spiderman 3'.
However, the rest of the cast don't fare so greatly. Michelle Williams has never had a flatter character than here and is basically wasted in a development-free plot-device role. Riz Ahmed is far too anaemic for the one-dimensional villain that's both cartoonish and insipid. Of the characters, only Eddie and Venom engage and intrigue, the rest are flat. While some of the effects are terrific, others are terrible especially in the latter stages with the biggest offender being the rushed and clumsy climax.
It is the script and story where 'Venom' fails most. The script is really clunky, especially with the forced and goofy humour that can be misplaced (Venom's disgust at taking the elevator was the one moment passing as funny) and the villain spouting dialogues and speeches that mean nothing. The less too about the soapy and cliché-ridden scenes featuring Hardy and Williams the better, they are bland and don't serve much point, and the Life Institute scenes should have had more clarity. Unfortunately, these scenes dominate the first act and makes it feel rather dull and "taking too long to get going". The story is tonally disjointed, too many tones that are very variable on their own and don't gel together, and very clunky. This is not a case of the film not trying, to me it came over as trying too hard in catering to everyone and throwing in too many ideas and elements and executing them very variably and too safely. For a story intended to be dark and violent, this seemed rather tame and held back.
Summing up, a disappointment but not that bad. 5/10 Bethany Cox
5/10
