Tom Hardy puts in a decent shift, but we thought Venom was a big let down...
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed
Running time: 112 mins
Following on from the success of Marvel’s Black Panther, the 9th highest-grossing film of all time, my hopes for Venom were high. Turns out, it isn’t even in the same league. I feel Tom Hardy was right when he bluntly said in an interview with Comics Explained that the best 40 minutes of the film were cut out. Venom centres around the life of journalist Eddie Brock who uncovers the secrets of the Life Foundation, and his quest to take them down after he gets infected with a parasite that gives him superhuman abilities. Directed by Ruben Fleischer, the movie boasts cinematography and CGI which are undeniably impressive, but only serve as a distraction. While Hardy does deliver a strong performance, he outshines the weak plot of the film. Humour is few and far between in the flick, but did manage to garner a few laughs in the cinema.
If like me, you have seen the adverts, then unfortunately you’ve seen the best parts. Because we don’t see Venom in his fully-fledged grotesque being until half-way through, when we do finally see him, it’s a bit of a let-down. And, it comes far too late. This movie feels like it should be the sequel, explaining the back story of how Venom came to be.
Venom in the comics is a violent, gruesome character, but this doesn’t translate to screen. It definitely could have been more gory. I was expecting, and at times hoping, for Venom to rip someone’s head off to produce blood and guts – but without a doubt, the PG-13 rating held this back big time. If Venom were Rated R, of course, it would gain far less traction in the box-office.
I found myself thinking “was that it?”
Diehard fans might wonder how Venom could even warrant its own stand-alone movie, and might think it impossible to not include any mention of the Spiderman storyline that this character stems from, but that indeed, it does. It has been marketed as an ‘anti-hero’ film. We learn so little about the titular character, yet so much about his ‘host’, Eddie Brock. To me, Venom felt like neither a superhero nor a supervillain and dangles somewhere in between. We get a snippet of a rap-heavy soundtrack with appearances from Pusha T, and when the credits roll in, Eminem, but the snippets are all too brief and once again leave me feeling like the film comes up short.
Venom is at times an entertaining watch, and certainly would be good fun if watched in the right setting with the right people, but the dull storyline overshadows the whole thing. The relationship that the film centres around includes a perfunctory female character. It seemed lazy. I was bored.
After the final showdown scene, which I only realised was over because Brock was suddenly sitting on a step drinking coffee, I found myself thinking “was that it?”. After such a long, yet dull build-up, the most exciting scene doesn’t save the day. It’s disappointing that Sony didn’t do better on this, as Venom had the potential to become a mammoth franchise. Although do keep an eye out for a fun cameo from the legendary Stan Lee. That was the highlight of the film for me – which says a lot.
Did you know? The second trailer garnered 64.3 million views within twenty-four hours of release. The views ballooned to 124.7 million views within the first week of the trailer's release.
Venom is in cinemas now
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