By Nadia Ranaputri
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Reid Scott.
When it was announced that Venom was headlining his own film in Sony's Marvel Universe (excluding ties from the Marvel Cinematic Universe despite Venom's constant connection in the Spider-Man universe), there was doubt, but there was hope. Venom wasn't exactly the best when the symbiote first appeared on screen in Spider-Man 3, and it seems that Sony wanted to do justice to the symbiote and his human counterpart by having him lead his own film. With an impressive cast of A-listers such as Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, and breakout star Riz Ahmed, this film had a lot of potential to do this anti-hero justice in its return to the screen, which leads to the million dollar question: was it any good?
Venom follows investigative reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), who's known for being an ace reporter when it comes to tackling stories, but not immune to cause some trouble while working in his field. When we're introduced to him, he has a steady job and a loving relationship with his girlfriend Anne (Michelle Williams). His reputation as a reporter is then shattered when his interview with tech corporation owner Carlton Drake goes horribly wrong. As a result, his job, his relationship with Anne, and basically his whole life takes a downturn. Soon after, his path leads him to further investigate Drake's company, hoping to capture proof of the company's dark secrets. Turns out, the company's lab stores extraterrestrial symbiotes, used for sinister intentions. Brock's venture in the lab eventually seals his fate with the symbiote that would later become a part of him.
Hardy's performance is really what drives the film. No matter what the result of the film itself, you can tell that he genuinely wants to play Eddie Brock. His comedic chops are rather cringy at times, but his banter with the symbiote is quite fun to to watch ("I'm a loser, just like you," the symbiote says to Brock at some point). He's the brightest star in the otherwise dark sky. He makes the most out of a mediocrely written script, which keeps the film from completely crumbling apart. Hardy has a lot of good moments here as Brock, and he's very enjoyable to watch, which perhaps makes him one of the few good things about the film. Brock as a character has some good depth in the story, as he goes around with a motorcycle to document events as an investigative reporter, a job he seemingly loves but destroys when he gets the opportunity to have a face-to-face with tech billionaire Carlton Drake by spitting Drake's worst allegations against him.
Venom's real lack however, is in the story and the script. Venom falls victim to a typically generic story with an equally generic script that moves quite quickly, leaving you to wonder how the hell they got to a certain plot point with little to nothing to establish said plot point or that the very thing that is set out to establish said plot point is not explored and easily dismissed for the sake of keeping the plot going in just under two hours. It even has its own set of convenient facts that are excruciatingly obvious at presenting its coincidental convenience (oh you just told us this fact? How convenient). It's unfortunate, considering that the film's director Ruben Fleischer, was able to tackle the horror comedy Zombieland (with the help of a good script) with a lot of zing and charismatic characters. There should be a lot to like from this. So what happened with it?
The events that happen during the first and second act feel choppy, and as said before, everything just moves quickly before you could have the chance to explore the characters and the world they live in. Due to that, most of its characters have no real depth either (save for Brock, even if he can be a prick at times). Michelle Williams was quite wasted in a love interest role, though she has her moments here, and Riz Ahmed's character had no clear motivation and fails to come off as a formidable enemy. At its worst, there's a doctor whose only purpose is to serve as a barrier between two characters, or in other words, served no actual purpose to the story.
But I have to give kudos to some brilliant horror imagery here during some scenes that give it an eerie feel, though the film obviously does not have enough of those. There's an Alien-like vibe going on with the symbiotes, and I'm all for that; yet since the film has other plans, it's swiftly dismissed (to get the plot going and fit everything else into a film that's less than two hours, perhaps?) and sometimes just comes off as dull. It goes for a Xenomorph level of frightening when it comes to how the symbiotes take over the human body, except with some distractingly bad CGI and less gore in this one. But because it's more of a hardcore PG-13, it doesn't have that same snap when it comes to the gore as say, Alien: Covenant (say what you want about Covenant, but you have to admit, the gore is all kinds of eerie, and spot on too). So yes, it doesn't fully utilize the very thing that could have made the film better than what it turned out to be.
Venom doesn't really know where it wants to go. An R-Rating perhaps could have done the trick for a solid ride, but then again, it also comes down to the story itself. One moment, you're seeing something horrific that plays off a little like Alien; and then the next, it's on to some weird comedic scene that involves a post-symbiote Brock dunking himself into a tank full of lobsters. The point is, it's all over the place. Is it a horror? A buddy comedy? A drama? I don't know, you tell me. It's several different tones that don't go together as well as it should have. Think of it like the kind of dish that attempts to put sweet, savoury, and spicy all into one plate. It can work some of the time, but the problem here is that in this case, they don't go well together at all. That's essentially what this film is.
Overall verdict: Venom has some good moments, like some parts of a motorcycle chase scene that were genuinely fun, or some of the banter between Hardy's Eddie Brock and Venom. Hardy was easily the best part about the film, and clearly wants to play the reporter-turned-anti-hero. It did also have some great horror imagery that give us glimpses of an eerie feel that is almost similar to Alien. However, Venom still has many things to improve, particularly when it comes to the story. It moves a little too quickly to the point where a certain arc feels as if it came out of nowhere or a certain progression doesn't feel earned enough for it to suddenly happen. Riz Ahmed's character doesn't have much to offer as the antagonist, despite Ahmed's performance, and Michelle Williams is unfortunately wasted in a love interest role. Venom just doesn't know what kind of film it wants to be. Is it going for a horror tone? A comedic tone? Or something with a dash of drama? Venom has all three of those things. The problem is, the film executes it poorly, resulting in a clash of tones that don't go together as a whole.
Stars: 2.5/5
Trailer
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| Image source: Geek Tyrant |
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Reid Scott.
When it was announced that Venom was headlining his own film in Sony's Marvel Universe (excluding ties from the Marvel Cinematic Universe despite Venom's constant connection in the Spider-Man universe), there was doubt, but there was hope. Venom wasn't exactly the best when the symbiote first appeared on screen in Spider-Man 3, and it seems that Sony wanted to do justice to the symbiote and his human counterpart by having him lead his own film. With an impressive cast of A-listers such as Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, and breakout star Riz Ahmed, this film had a lot of potential to do this anti-hero justice in its return to the screen, which leads to the million dollar question: was it any good?
Venom follows investigative reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), who's known for being an ace reporter when it comes to tackling stories, but not immune to cause some trouble while working in his field. When we're introduced to him, he has a steady job and a loving relationship with his girlfriend Anne (Michelle Williams). His reputation as a reporter is then shattered when his interview with tech corporation owner Carlton Drake goes horribly wrong. As a result, his job, his relationship with Anne, and basically his whole life takes a downturn. Soon after, his path leads him to further investigate Drake's company, hoping to capture proof of the company's dark secrets. Turns out, the company's lab stores extraterrestrial symbiotes, used for sinister intentions. Brock's venture in the lab eventually seals his fate with the symbiote that would later become a part of him.
Hardy's performance is really what drives the film. No matter what the result of the film itself, you can tell that he genuinely wants to play Eddie Brock. His comedic chops are rather cringy at times, but his banter with the symbiote is quite fun to to watch ("I'm a loser, just like you," the symbiote says to Brock at some point). He's the brightest star in the otherwise dark sky. He makes the most out of a mediocrely written script, which keeps the film from completely crumbling apart. Hardy has a lot of good moments here as Brock, and he's very enjoyable to watch, which perhaps makes him one of the few good things about the film. Brock as a character has some good depth in the story, as he goes around with a motorcycle to document events as an investigative reporter, a job he seemingly loves but destroys when he gets the opportunity to have a face-to-face with tech billionaire Carlton Drake by spitting Drake's worst allegations against him.
 |
| Image source: IMDB |
Venom's real lack however, is in the story and the script. Venom falls victim to a typically generic story with an equally generic script that moves quite quickly, leaving you to wonder how the hell they got to a certain plot point with little to nothing to establish said plot point or that the very thing that is set out to establish said plot point is not explored and easily dismissed for the sake of keeping the plot going in just under two hours. It even has its own set of convenient facts that are excruciatingly obvious at presenting its coincidental convenience (oh you just told us this fact? How convenient). It's unfortunate, considering that the film's director Ruben Fleischer, was able to tackle the horror comedy Zombieland (with the help of a good script) with a lot of zing and charismatic characters. There should be a lot to like from this. So what happened with it?
The events that happen during the first and second act feel choppy, and as said before, everything just moves quickly before you could have the chance to explore the characters and the world they live in. Due to that, most of its characters have no real depth either (save for Brock, even if he can be a prick at times). Michelle Williams was quite wasted in a love interest role, though she has her moments here, and Riz Ahmed's character had no clear motivation and fails to come off as a formidable enemy. At its worst, there's a doctor whose only purpose is to serve as a barrier between two characters, or in other words, served no actual purpose to the story.
 |
| Image source: IMDB |
But I have to give kudos to some brilliant horror imagery here during some scenes that give it an eerie feel, though the film obviously does not have enough of those. There's an Alien-like vibe going on with the symbiotes, and I'm all for that; yet since the film has other plans, it's swiftly dismissed (to get the plot going and fit everything else into a film that's less than two hours, perhaps?) and sometimes just comes off as dull. It goes for a Xenomorph level of frightening when it comes to how the symbiotes take over the human body, except with some distractingly bad CGI and less gore in this one. But because it's more of a hardcore PG-13, it doesn't have that same snap when it comes to the gore as say, Alien: Covenant (say what you want about Covenant, but you have to admit, the gore is all kinds of eerie, and spot on too). So yes, it doesn't fully utilize the very thing that could have made the film better than what it turned out to be.
Venom doesn't really know where it wants to go. An R-Rating perhaps could have done the trick for a solid ride, but then again, it also comes down to the story itself. One moment, you're seeing something horrific that plays off a little like Alien; and then the next, it's on to some weird comedic scene that involves a post-symbiote Brock dunking himself into a tank full of lobsters. The point is, it's all over the place. Is it a horror? A buddy comedy? A drama? I don't know, you tell me. It's several different tones that don't go together as well as it should have. Think of it like the kind of dish that attempts to put sweet, savoury, and spicy all into one plate. It can work some of the time, but the problem here is that in this case, they don't go well together at all. That's essentially what this film is.
 |
| Image source: IMDB |
Overall verdict: Venom has some good moments, like some parts of a motorcycle chase scene that were genuinely fun, or some of the banter between Hardy's Eddie Brock and Venom. Hardy was easily the best part about the film, and clearly wants to play the reporter-turned-anti-hero. It did also have some great horror imagery that give us glimpses of an eerie feel that is almost similar to Alien. However, Venom still has many things to improve, particularly when it comes to the story. It moves a little too quickly to the point where a certain arc feels as if it came out of nowhere or a certain progression doesn't feel earned enough for it to suddenly happen. Riz Ahmed's character doesn't have much to offer as the antagonist, despite Ahmed's performance, and Michelle Williams is unfortunately wasted in a love interest role. Venom just doesn't know what kind of film it wants to be. Is it going for a horror tone? A comedic tone? Or something with a dash of drama? Venom has all three of those things. The problem is, the film executes it poorly, resulting in a clash of tones that don't go together as a whole.
Stars: 2.5/5
Trailer
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