Up until last year’s Spiderman: Homecoming, it’s been a dark time for Spider-fans hoping for a faithful no, just a good Spiderman movie. Before Homecoming, the last ‘good’ Spiderman movie was 2004’s Spiderman 2. For fans of the hero’s nemesis Venom, however, it’s been even worse. The only big screen version of the symbiotes baddie came in the form of a horribly cast and woefully written Topher Grace turn as the anti-hero in the much-maligned Spiderman 3
Venom looks to rectify this by casting Tom Hardy as the titular character and tying it into the Sony pocket of the growing Marvel Universe. In the film, journalist Eddie Brock is trying to take down Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), the notorious and brilliant founder of the Life Foundation. While investigating one of Drake’s experiments, Eddie’s body merges with the alien Venom — leaving him with superhuman strength and power. Twisted, dark and fueled by rage, Brock tries to control the new and dangerous abilities given to him by Venom.
Venom’s portrayal of the anti-hero is a major upgrade from the Topher-Grace-train-wreck of ’06 but still misses the mark in many places. That doesn’t necessarily make it a bad movie however as the film has a certain charm to it. This charm is due in large part to Tom Hardy’s performance, it’s nothing ground-breaking in the vein of the original Iron Man or last year’s Logan, Hardy commits to the role and it pays off to elevate the rest of the film out of mediocrity.
For example, there is a scene just after Eddie Brock gets ‘infected’ and his body’s metabolism has gone into overdrive. He is compulsively eating and sweating profusely when he goes to find his ex-fiancé Annie (Michelle Williams) for help. It just so happens that Annie is on a date with her new man, Dan (Reid Scott), at a fine dining restaurant. One thing leads to another and Eddie ends up getting in the lobster tank to cool down and chow down on some raw lobster. On paper, this scene shouldn’t work and has no place being in this movie, but on-screen, it works. Not only is it one of the best scenes in the movie but its hands down the funniest.
The entire movie is shockingly funny and that plays has a lot to with Hardy as well as he also did the voice work for Venom. The continuity between the two helps the movie and Hardy’s take on Venom is a blunt, sarcastic, and humorous take in line with Thor: Ragnarok that is a welcome change from the usual bleak, and stoic characters seen in superhero movies. An R-rating definitely would’ve helped the movie, and the character, develop a more distinctive feel but I do think they hit the perfect tone for a PG-13 Venom that walks the line between family-friendly and too far.
While Hardy’s performance is one of the movie’s strengths, it still falls victim to the age-old Marvel plague of mediocre villains. Riz Ahmed does his best but the script just doesn’t give him much to work with as Drake. He shows up acts evil and sketchy, gets a symbiote of his own, and has a showdown with Venom. That being said, the final showdown is one of the better ‘boss fights’ in a Marvel movie with the two symbiotes fighting each other as the men also throw blows; it’s an interesting twist on a common trope.
Overall, Venom is a good springboard for future installments, and with the $80 million domestic opening there WILL be a sequel, but it’s bogged down by a confused tone and mediocre characters outside Eddie Brock. This doesn’t necessarily make it a bad movie though, but to call it a good movie wouldn’t be true either. Where ever this movie lands in the grand scheme of superhero movies one thing is certain: it’s one of the more entertaining and re-watchable movies in the genre.
Venom is in theaters now starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, and Riz Ahmed.
