Venom: Movie Review
While watching “Venom” I felt like I was transported back in time, to an era before Marvel began building a cinematic universe. In the early 2000’s after “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” made a splash in theaters, we saw bad-to-mediocre films featuring Daredevil, The Punisher and Elektra fail to please fans. Director Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”) attempts to do justice to one of the most beloved Spider-Man villains after the character was treated so poorly years ago in “Spider-Man 3”. Let’s call it the Deadpool-Effect. Originally, I felt creating a film about one of Spider-Man’s enemies without having the web-slinger play any part in the film was going to be a bad idea. Surprisingly, that turned out to be the least problematic element in “Venom”. This movie is a complete mess.
Reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is not having an easy time. After unintentionally getting his fiancé Anne (Michelle Williams) fired from her law firm, she decides to break up with him. Eddie wanted to expose the Bioengineering corporation Life Foundation CEO, Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) for the dangerous crook that he is but instead cost Eddie his love, home and job. When Dr. Skirth (Jenny Slate) seeks out Brock to confirm that her boss, Drake is experimenting and killing homeless people using an alien organism, he hesitatingly decides to sneak into the lab and gather proof. However, Brock winds up bonding with the symbiotic alien, who calls himself, Venom.
Drake not only wants the symbiote back, but he also wants Brock who has been able to successfully pair up with the alien parasite. Just don’t call Venom a parasite to his face, because he will take offence. Brock isn’t the only host that has bonded with a symbiote. Drake has become host to the alien leader, Riot and the two have plans to bring the entire alien race to Earth.
While watching “Venom” I kept thinking about how much this film reminded me of “Upgrade” which came out earlier this year. Both stories revolve around men who basically has an advanced-weapons living in their bodies with their own consciousnesses. In both films, the alien or computer consciousness is doing most of the fighting for the host body. The big difference here, is that “Upgrade” was actually fun and it embraced its’ “R” rating. With “Venom”, a film that was clearly meant to be “R” rated, felt completely neutered. Much like this past summer’s “Meg”, we can tell there was supposed to be plenty of carnage, but it was all edited out. Maybe because “Upgrade” and “The Predator” were both box office disappointments, going for the PG-13 was the right call from the business standpoint, but to me and most fans of the character, Venom should be bloody and savage.
“Venom” is at its’ best when the alien is talking to Brock, delivering some of the film’s only pleasure. Much like his host, Venom was a loser on his planet too, so he can relate to Brock. I did laugh at some of their exchanges. Unfortunately, “Venom” delivers little else. It feels like so much was cut from the story and I have no idea if what was left out would have made for a more interesting story, but I can say that the character deserves a whole lot better than what was put on screen.
By: Marc Ferman