Venom Review

I still don’t know what a turd in the wind is.

Back in February the trailer for Venom dropped. The trailer made the film appeared to be a body horror movie which would take a deep dive into the effects a horrible accident would have on Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock. The only problem was that Venom didn’t even appear in the trailer. Now I’m all for trailers not revealing anything but not mentioning your title character in your trailer was fishy to me. Fast forward to July when the second trailer drops. This trailer showed Venom in all his glory and hinted towards a dark Jekyll and Hyde type film. There was just one problem, a line which would change Venom forever. “You will be this armless, legless, faceless little thing, Won’t you? Rolling down the street like a turd in the wind.” Just like that Venom went from being the antihero that we needed to see in action to be the purple dude talking about turds. So here we are in October and Venom has finally been released. The confusion of all the trailers finally make sense to me. No, this wasn’t a cryptic marketing campaign by Sony to divide expectations. Venom is a film that doesn’t have a clue what the hell it is. This a movie which throws random genres into a blender and hopes for the best. This is a mess, but I think I might be in love with this mess.

Venom tells the story of Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) who after adapting the powers of a symbiote must release his alter ego to save his own life. WAIT, no that’s wrong let me start again. Venom is this year’s sweetest film of the year which tells the story of down on his luck Eddie Brock who with the help of his quippy sidekick attempts to make the comeback of the year.  WAIT wrong again, Venom tells the story of Eddy Brock who must complete his biggest journalism challenge to date and expose a wealthy billionaires (Riz Ahmed) true motives. You get the picture. Venom has about 12 main storylines squeezed into the film. You’re left with a muddled plot that sines in some places but is lifeless in others. The first act struck me as a weird romcom in what the oddest part of the film was…. Maybe. The first 20- 40 minutes had me yawning, Eddie and Anne (Michelle Williams) are not a pairing that will get anyone talking. I’ll get into their individual performances later but the chemistry between the two esteemed actors is non-existent. Once Eddie and Venom finally meet the film really gets going. The action and humour in the humour in the second and third act is strong enough to save the film from a chore of a first act and more importantly save it from the writing.

Seth Rosenberg wrote Kangaroo Jack. Jeff Pinker wrote The Dark Tower. Kelly Marcel wrote 50 Shades of Grey. Will Beall wrote the one and only season of the Training Day tv series. Now one of these choices to write a script for a film based the most badass anti hero of all time is a bit confusing but to have all these writers hacking away at the script is mind boggling to me. Film studios need to realise that films don’t need that many writers. Films work with one writer just fine. We’re getting to the stage where so many big studio films scripts feel like they’ve been written as they go along.  Venom has some of the worst dialogue I’ve heard in a movie in a long time besides the Venom and Eddie interaction which are brilliant. Eddie and Anne talk to each like they’re in a soap opera. Carlton Drake the villain of the film is just one generic bad guy monologue after another, Riz Ahmed reads his lines as if it’s unrehearsed off a teleprompter. The plot too takes quite a few weird turns that left me really confused, my dad asked me if he needed to know more about the comics to understand some parts of the film he didn’t get, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was just poorly written. Without giving anything away I can say this, Venom features the biggest cringe inducing WTF moment of the year. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about and it isn’t pretty.

What makes Venom memorable is the partnership between Eddie and Venom. I was expecting it to be manipulative and for Eddie to just gullible go along with everything, but I was wrong! Eddie and Venom are the funniest duo in film right now. The interactions they have with each other left me in stitches. Not only were they funny but their relationship felt real. Venom looked the part too. The character’s iconic look is brought to film effortlessly. The effects department nailed character design to a tee. The action two was also decent. One motorbike chase scene had me hooked seeing all the inventive motor bike stunts which Eddies new identity allowed him to do. The only time the action failed for me is at times when in full Venom mode the character looked a little bit like PS2 graphics when he fought.  An R rating would have benefited the film as the Venom identity is associated with gore and the lack of blood left me disappointed as the violent traits of Venom in the comics are some of my favourites. The action was decent enough to make up for this in the long run. Sony also need to learn not to spoil their entire plot in trailers because this is the second time they’ve done it with a Marvel property (I’m looking at you Amazing Spiderman 2).

Tom Hardy nails the role of Eddie Brock. Sure, at times the accent goes missing but you can’t deny that the film would have failed without him. Hardy is having a blast playing a role unlike any I’ve seen him in before. He’s endearing as pre-Venom Eddie who’s all awkward and clumsy. Hardy shines when he’s talking to the venom voice in his head because the facial expressions he pulls are awesome. Hardy is one of the best of our generation, even with a paper-thin script he manages to make this version of Brock almost redeems the Topher Grace one. Side note: I made it this far into my review before mentioning Spiderman 3 I deserve an award. Hardy may shine but the other humans falter. Michelle Williams is one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood, but she is given one of the worst characters I’ve seen in a super hero film since maybe Darcy in Thor. Williams is relegated to the love interest, Anne is not written as anything other than that. What a stupid decision for starters because Williams could literally play Venom and nail it but secondly because why oh why would you still want to write damsel in distress characters in 2018. Carlton Drake is stale Bran Flake of a villain. Ahmed is not convincing as the crazy scientist or the suave businessman or even as the threatening villain. The least said about this villain the better.

Ruben Fleischer had made one weird movie. He managed to make Venom funny just like his most famous work Zombieland. Unfortunately, the not so comedic parts of this film are just odd. I haven’t been this confused on how to feel about a film in a long time. Hardy is great and so is the odd couple pairing but it’s surrounded by so many strange choices that the film had me on an emotional seesaw for 2 hours. Venom is the most 2006 film I’ve ever seen. Seriously it feels like a product of the 2000s theirs no other way I can describe it. Release this in between X-Men: The Last Stand and Spiderman 3 than sure I’m game but release this in the same year as Infinity War and Black Panther I’m confused to a whole new level. So, congratulations Venom you managed to make me go through more inner turmoil than Eddie Brock.

Liam’s Summary of Venom.

Best Moment: The post credit scene had me smiling like there was no tomorrow.

Worst moment: THAT scene (you know the one) is worse than emo Peter.

Best Character: Venom is Hitch

Worst Character: Evil Elon Musk

Overall Rating: 2.5/5.