Rating: 3/5
The movie “Venom” is a lot of things… ‘good’ is not one of them. It is an action, thriller and rom-com all mixed into one, and not in a good way.
Venom, a popular Marvel villain is an alien symbiote with a liquid-like form that can change shape, who needs a host (preferably human) in order to survive on Earth. He is also one of Spiderman’s main villains.
When the movie was first announced, the posters amped me up about the release. Seeing Tom Hardy’s face plastered on the posters was exciting.
Unfortunately, not even Tom Hardy could save this movie from the train wreck it turned out to be. This is yet another disappointing instalment in the Sony’s Marvel franchise.
While Tom Hardy plays the role of down-on-his-luck investigative journalist Eddie Brock very well, he is unable to be the saving grace of the movie because of the way his character is written. We are given a tragically brief introduction to Eddie Brock, a star investigative journalist, via a montage. While it is interesting to see the character introduced in this way, it would have been nicer to see the character stew in his element for a while before he is thrown out.
The other characters in the movie don’t do well either. Most of them are throw-aways and could have been played by literally anyone else and you would not have known the difference. The characters are superficial and no efforts have been made to add anything to them or make them grow. They might as well have been cut-out pieces of cardboard placed in the scenes. The only character in the whole film that shows any growth is Venom (also played by Tom Hardy).
Till Venom comes in contact with Eddie Brock, the movie is dull and uneventful. I was bored, just counting the minutes waiting for something to happen. Then, Venom comes into the frame. That’s when things actually begin to pick up. The banter between the two is what brings life into the otherwise dull film and is, frankly, the only part of the film that I actually like. Another thing that I really like is the chase scene involving the villain’s henchmen and the now-infected Eddie Brock. It is entertaining and amazing to watch. The synchronisation between Venom and Eddie Brock feels seamless and real… a testament to Tom Hardy’s acting skills considering that he is basically interacting with CGI.
One of the most painful things in the movie are the cliches. At the beginning of the movie, there is a scene where a thug walks into a store that Eddie Brock is at, and pulls a gun on the owner demanding ‘protection money’. Now, if you have seen many superheroes or, in this case, supervillain movies, you know for a fact that the same scenario is going to play out at the end of the movie, only this time the ‘good guy’ is going to be able to do something about it… and that is exactly what happens. This is not a spoiler… it’s just so painfully obvious. There are other scenes that play out like you’d expect them to, which takes you out of the movie and at that point you are just sitting there, predicting things like you are a psychic or something.
The other thing that bothered me about the movie was the dialogue. Some of the dialogues in the movie are terrible and at times make no sense… like the dialogue between the main villain and one of the test subjects named Isaac. You’ll get what I mean when you see the movie. The ‘jokes’ in the movie were mostly one-liners that fell flat. I barely even chuckled… although this might have something to do with the fact that I saw a less than good review of the movie before watching it. It felt like they were under pressure to be funny like the other Marvel movies. Not all the comedy was terrible… Venom and Eddie Brock have some really good comedic timing together.
Now comes the villain Carlton Drake (played by Riz Ahmed)… he was terrible. Drake felt more like a school bully than an actual threatening presence. There was nothing intimidating about him and his threats lacked gravitas. Of all the supervillains in the MCU, this guy is like a Chihuahua. The only scary thing about him is the fact that… nope… I’ve got nothing.
The CGI in the film is one of its few positives. The graphics and the 3D are seamless and not odd. Green screen scenes are also quite difficult to pinpoint. The music is good, especially the one played with the end credits.
Seeing that this is a Marvel movie, stay tuned for the end mid-credit scene and enjoy the music while you wait for it. It’s all the Carnage you can hope for.
So, to surmise, don’t get your hopes up as you will be disappointed. The only thing worth looking forward to is the combination of Venom and Eddie Brock, everything else is just ‘meh’. This movie is worth one… maybe two watches. It is, however, way better than Topher Grace’s version of the Venom.
The movie has been directed by Ruben Fleischer and produced by Avi Arad, Amy Pascal and Matt Tolmach.
