Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed

32% from the critics. 89% from the audience. Neither party is credible, because both made up their minds before even walking into the theater. The shocker here is that I didn’t hate Venom. All three of the trailers for it warned us of another ruined property from Sony. You’d think at least some of the marketing for a Tom Hardy vehicle based on an insanely popular villain would make it presentable. Nope. I was sure I was gonna watch the worst movie of the year, and instead I got the goofiest. And I liked it, I think?

Leaving the theater I understood immediately why critics hate Venom, and why the fans are digging it. It’s not an awful movie but it ain’t great either. I was actually reminded of Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur movie last year in Venom’s reception. Because I liked that movie too even though most people seem to despise it. It’s also a goofy take on well known lore, and I think how you felt about that movie might be the best indicator if you’ll like this. In fact I’m just gonna go ahead and say if you liked Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur then you’ll like Venom. I’m making perfect sense now yeah?

The movie opens with a rocket crash landing in East Malaysia. Onboard are several gooey blob like creatures. One inhabits a human body as a host. The others are picked up by the Life Corporation.

It cuts to Eddie Brock asleep in his home in Cali, with the subtitle “San Francisco, California”. The audience I was with laughed at this. Eddie’s a reporter, he’s engaged to Anne (Michelle Williams). He’s kinda the walking Good Guy Greg of this town, always reporting on the stories that need to be told and pointing out corruption as he sees it. His boss gives him his next assignment: interview Carlton Drake, head of Life Corporation. Ask only about his new rocket and what he hopes to accomplish for good of the world. In and out, keep it about the rocket.

But Drake’s a bad man (Riz Ahmed) and Eddie knows it. He refuses on principle to make such a corrupt person look good. But his boss presses him, You’re the most credible reporter in the city, something like that. Eddie goes home to Anne. She’s a lawyer, who’s firm happens to work for Drake. They’re currently being sued for the deaths of their human subjects. Drake’s been using people for tests for his scientific advancements. Eddie reads a confidential email sent to Anne regarding the case. Guess what he’s bringing up in the interview?

I dreaded this scene but it didn’t turn out half bad, although the movie rushes it a bit. Drake wants to explore space to save the Earth from overpopulation and global warming. Hence sending out that rocket to discover what’s out there (the same one that crashed at the beginning). Eddie skips past this to question him about the deaths at his company. Drake has him thrown out. “Have a nice Life” he parts with. What?

Eddie’s immediately fired by his boss. Remarkably, the line is delivered in painfully obvious ADR. Who thought this was a good idea? Instantly it cuts to a fired Eddie seeing Anne, who has also gotten fired because of her leaked email to Eddie. She ends it with him, and hands him back his ring. It’s also done in ADR. Who shot these scenes?

In maybe 10 seconds of real time we have seen our protagonist fired, his spouse fired, and her end it with him told in lines dubbed over the movie after the fact. I have to wonder what the original cuts of these scenes were like. It happens again at another moment later on but nevermind.

This isn’t to say Venom is a poorly made movie. It’s actually really competent most of the way through. Pretty good camera work and decent editing, and some neat CGI effects. But there are problems, so yes, it makes sense that Tom Hardy said 30 to 40 minutes of his favorite parts of the movie have been cut. At just an hour and 52 minutes in length, Venom is sparse for a superhero (or supervillain) movie. The genre calls for longer epics, even for their origin stories.

And speaking of origins, the major problem with all movies like this is always the antagonist. And it makes sense, we are here to see the birth of Venom (or whoever the movie is about) and focus less on their opposing force. This can lead to some dull forgettable outings, specifically many of the original Marvel films. But when it’s done right, it can rock, like Guardians of the Galaxy or Batman Begins. I think the old saying, “A movie is only as good as its villain” has to be dialed back for movies like this. A good and compelling villain is hard to come by (yet another reason Infinity War is the best).

I’m getting ahead of myself again. Eddie sneaks into Life Corporation, with the help of one of Drake’s underlings who begins to realize how evil he is (how her and Eddie meet is a good moment), to witness the discovery of the symbiotes and how Drake is using helpless people to test as host. The alien life form will inhabit a body, and if it’s not compatible, will feast on its organs and kill them. Drake has tested a bunch. Eddie goes to see for himself. Eventually the symbiote known as Venom inhabits Eddie, together they escape.

Now Venom is a lot like Spiderman in terms of abilities (no wonder they’re enemies). His goo like form can manipulate and take shape of things, and can stretch and grapple and swing him around. This movie becomes a battle of the self, with Brock having an internal struggle with Venom, who has possessed his body and mind.

Let’s talk about Venom. He’s hilarious. His voice and tone are hysterical. The first time Venom speaks, listen to Tom Hardy’s scream. Then later hear his reaction to flying off his bike. This movie is a comedy.

I love that none of this is taken too seriously. And here was the mistake of the marketing, they failed to show that all this is for humor. You’d think you were getting some epic sci fi horror show, but Venom is a self aware comedy, just about all the way through. Its problem is that it’s too goofy, even for its own good. But I think this was the right route, knowing Sony’s predilection for destroying things. But from what I understand they made this in conjunction with Marvel, so maybe they all cozied up after they sold the rights to Spiderman.

Whatever the case, Venom is a funny movie. I loved most of the talking symbiote’s lines, and was particularly fond of the elevator scene. Because you see Venom wants to kill and eat people, but Eddie won’t let him (most of the time). And how they come to terms with one another is almost kind of…sweet? I felt things about Tom Hardy and his friendship with a pile of goo. Good shit movie. And how Venom warms up to him enough to tell him and Anne his weaknesses (high frequencies and fire), and how he helps to patch up their relationship. This is fucking crazy, he’s a pile of freaking goo.

I can’t believe it but it works, most of the time. The movie does lull and drag at some uneventful parts involving Drake and his experiments. And though Riz Ahmed was amazing in Nightcrawler, here he is goofy as the villain (have I mentioned how goofy everything is?). His tone has a light effeminate touch to it, and he speaks as one would to a child. He likens himself to god, believing in the greater good for the progress of humanity, as he sends innocent person after innocent person to be killed by the symbiotes.

And remember that human body the first symbiote attached to in the opening after the rocket crash? It makes it’s way from host to host until it finally infests itself in Drake himself. Go figure. I knew we’d see a showdown between Brock with Venom against Drake with another symbiote. But his has a name too, it’s Riot, and he’s far more powerful than Venom. You see, Venom is a loser from where he comes from, and he likes Earth a lot now, so he wants to stop Riot from destroying it. Holy shit, am I really going THIS in depth?!

Anyway. The showdown between Venom and Riot is fucking awesome. It’s a dumb fight scene by the rocket, BUT includes some fucking epic slow mo shots of BOTH symbiote’s shedding themselves from their hosts temporarily to battle one another. I can’t describe it, it’s amazing. And out of nowhere. Up to this point the movie is just about Eddie running from and fighting Drake’s goons and a swat team I think? Pretty standard fare of an alien just beating up some humans. But here’s another parallel to King Arthur. I instantly thought of the climatic fight between Arthur and Vortigern, and how the camera swirled but stopped mid motion to capture slow motion clangs the two had against each other. That’s similar to how Riot and Venom duke it out, and somehow it just works.

I’ll repeat it, this is an extremely goofy movie. The goofiest of the year. But let’s all just appreciate how great of an actor Tom Hardy is to sell it so well. I hated his bullshit accent in the trailers, but in the movie he rocks it. Bulky tough Hardy, and I totally bought him as a frightened and unsure reporter. And he’s funny and his timing shows us why he’s one of the greats. And he also is the voice of Venom too! The sound department brought their A game, Venom’s voice is surely a highlight. And the visuals of the creature are slick and believable. Good CGI that doesn’t offend the eyes. I dug when Venom dived in the water to escape and speeds by lightening quick to land on the other side. Looked like a fantastic blending of practical and visual effects.

But oh man those trailers. They’ve got to stop spoiling the last scene and line of the movie. But if you ignore them and expect a comedy, you may just like this movie. I never thought I’d see Tom Hardy plant himself in a lobster tank and eat crustaceans. And there’s a wonderful kiss at the end that I won’t spoil that is actually really spectacular. The good outweighs the bad here I think. And if you stay for the post credits scene you’ll get a surprise. I sat in disbelief at who they cast to play a certain other notable super villain. Great actor, but is he right for it?