Venom (2018) Review

Production Details

• Director: Rueben Fleischer
• Producers: Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascal
• Screenplay: Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg and Kelly Marcel
• Story: Jedd Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg
• Based on: Venom by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane
• Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Scott Haze and Reid Scott
• Score: Ludwig Goransson
• Cinematography: Matthew Libatique
• Editors: Maryann Brandon and Alan Baumgarten
• Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Tencent Pictures, Arad Production, Matt Tolmach Productions and Pascal Pictures
• Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
• Release Date: 3rd October 2018
• Running Time: 112 minutes
• Budget: $100-116 million
• BBFC Rating: 15
• MPAA Rating: PG-13

Introduction

So… how do I explain how this works? Venom is perhaps one of Spider-Man’s most famous villains due to its fascinating origin story and design similar to that of Spidey’s. The character became so popular that Sony producer and owner to the rights of Spider-Man, Avi Arad, forced Sam Raimi to include him as a villain in Spider-Man 3 (2007) despite Raimi wanting to use the Sandman instead. The results didn’t go so well as Topher Grace’s iteration of Venom was panned by critics and audiences alike.

Then, after the failed Amazing Spider-Man series, Sony decided to share the rights of Spider-Man with Marvel Studios, allowing him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe so long as a) they have creative control over his solo movies, b) they use villains that have yet to appear in film and c) they get to make their own movies with Spider-Man villains.

Thus, Arad, who seems to be obsessed with Venom, decided to make his own standalone Venom movie, completely independent from Spider-Man and the MCU and in October 2018, Venom was released.

I just thought I’d explain this so that you would understand why this movie is the way it is because this may be the strangest superhero movie I have ever seen…

 

Synopsis

A shuttle containing four alien symbiotes crashes to earth and is picked up by Carlton Drake (Ahmed), the CEO of the Life Foundation. Drake hopes to use the symbiotes to combine with humanity so that they can colonise space only the symbiotes don’t react well with human hosts. When a disgraced investigative journalist, Eddie Brock (Hardy) is sent to the Life Foundation to investigate the symbiotes, one of them, named Venom, attaches itself to Eddie and the two are revealed to be compatible. Now Brock and Venom, with the help of Eddie’s ex-fiancee Anne Weying (Williams), must cooperate in order to stop Drake and Riot, another symbiote, from starting an invasion of Earth.

Review

So er… where do I even start with this one?

Go with the characters. You always start with those.

Ah yes! Seeing as this movie’s about Venom, it only makes sense to talk about… Venom. Eddie Brock isn’t that interesting of a character in this movie. He doesn’t have much depth and his story arc is very thin. The first twenty minutes of this movie focuses on establishing Eddie as a character but they fail to make him interesting enough. Luckily Tom Hardy is playing him so he’s not entirely dull, especially once he bonds with the Venom symbiote.

The Eddie/Venom double act is easily the best part of this movie as Venom is a genuinely funny character and has the closest this movie gets to a character arc. I also really like his design as it looks just like the comics (lack of spider symbol aside). The two share a great rapport with each other and the odd-couple dynamic leads to the most intentionally funny scenes in the movie. Plus I will have to give Tom Hardy credit for a) being different enough as Venom to tell them apart and b) being committed enough to do some weird stuff.

Weird? Eddie was not weird. 

I beg to differ. I won’t spoil the weird stuff in this movie as it has to be seen to be believed but to give you a taste on how weird this is, there is a scene where Eddie makes out with Venom.

It was a transfer! It wasn’t anything weird. 

Yes but you’ve established that you could transfer by putting your arm on their shoulder.

Shut up. I wanted to see what it was like to make out with Tom Hardy. 

No arguments there. The point is, this movie has a mixture of both weird and funny making this movie thoroughly entertaining despite the fact that it’s really not good.

WHAT?! 

Calm down! I’m not saying I hate it. I did just say it was thoroughly entertaining. I’m just saying, this movie is a mess.

How so?

For one thing, half the movie feels missing. As I said before, there are no clear character arcs and character arcs that do appear are very rushed. The third act seems to appear way too soon and I don’t feel like we spent enough time on the Eddie/Venom relationship. On top of that, even though it’s a 15 here, it’s very clearly a PG-13/12a as Venom only eats three people and we don’t really see them eat it as quick cuts hide the attack. And the strange thing is, this movie is begging to be an R/15 rating but the editors must’ve cut it to ribbons in order to get a wider release.

The action suffers as a result because at best, it’s tepid and boring and at worst, it’s incomprehensible. The final fight in particular is a mess as, once again in a superhero movie, we get two similar looking, evenly matched CGI creations just punching each other. When is Hollywood gonna learn that the best supervillains have different superpowers to the hero?

And though Tom Hardy as Eddie/Venom is great, the rest of the cast feel wasted. Michelle Williams is just a bland love interest and besides partaking in what is the weirdest scene in the movie (you’ll know it when you see it), she doesn’t get a lot to do and she doesn’t have much chemistry with Tom Hardy.

Also isn’t it weird that Michelle Williams is in a thankless role as a bland love interest in a movie that critics hate but audiences love? Why is this movie similar to The Greatest Showman?

I thought you gave that movie a positive review.

I did. And I’m regretting it as the soundtrack and choreography are literally the only things I like about that movie and even then I’m getting sick of it.

Joel! Focus! 

Sorry! Where was I? Ah yes, the supporting characters! Riz Ahmed does the best he can and he’s clearly having fun but the character is really not that interesting. He’s just your generic evil businessman with vague motivations. We don’t even know what exactly the Life Foundation does! On top of that, Riot’s just your average monster baddie who has nothing interesting to say and like I said, the final fight is incomprehensible.

And the structure, good grief! The first 20 minutes add nothing to the movie, Riot is treated as a surprise villain despite the fact that most of the movie tracks his movements and we don’t get nearly enough time as we should with Venom. The dialogue doesn’t fare much better. One of the lines is literally ‘my leg was broken but now it’s not broken’ and who can forget ‘like a turn in the wind?’

The movie is also tonally inconsistent as one moment it’s a horror movie, one moment it’s a rom-com and another moment it’s a superhero film.

As for the production values-

Aw is the review ending already? I quite enjoyed being a guest on your review. 

Well if you’re nice, I might include you in my Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse review.

Yay! 

Anyway… as for the production values, I think I mentioned them throughout the review already. As the movie is cut to ribbons, Rueben Fleischer doesn’t do much to stand out though there are some effective moments of horror. The editing is a disaster as half the movie feels missing. The cinematography is decent except for the final fight. Ditto with the CGI as Venom looks cool but the final fight looks like someone splattered it with paint. The music by Ludwig Goransson is strong, though the use of songs feels hilariously out of place. Eminem’s Venom won’t leave your head either.

Conclusion

This movie is bad. No doubt about it. The structure and editing is a joke, the script is hit-and-miss, the actors, except Tom Hardy, have nothing interesting to work with, the action is dull and incomprehensible, and the production values are all over the place.

But my goodness is it entertaining! There are so many weird and hilarious moments in the movie that’s it’s hard to hate it and I would highly recommend this movie just because it has to be seen to be believed.

It’s a guilty pleasure, to say the least, and if the studio would let the directors be even weirder with the sequel, I can’t wait!

I would give this movie 1 and a half Venom faces but since this is so entertaining, this movie gets 2 and a half Venom faces out of five.

Oh and stay for the mid-credits scene.

Are we done then?

Yes, Venom, we’re done.

Does this mean we can eat people now?

No! It’s gross! We don’t live in a PG-13 universe!

Awww you’re no fun. I’m going to go back to Eddie. 

Why did you leave him anyway?

We had an argument. I don’t want to talk about it. 

Well if you do, I’m here okay.

Yes. Goodbye. 

Bye Venom. Gosh, that was weird… just like the movie…

No, it really isn’t.

Side note: Why are people on the internet attracted to this thing? You do know he’s a monster right! Well, that’s a bit mean. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!