Scorecard Weekly - 'Venom'

We’re back! Before we get started, however, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t give our respects to the King. The man who helped spark the imaginations of millions of people with his iconic characters—from Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Black Panther, and so many more.

Before show our respects and take our moment of silence, let’s give one last EXCELSIOR to the legendary Stan Lee, may his legacy and life live on through his characters… (Please take the time to thank him.)

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WELCOME TO SCORECARD WEEKLY! The place where you come to get honest, uncut, and uncensored reviews of the newest and oldest TV series and movies. Before we begin today’s card, let’s recap on what we are grading shall we? Please turn your attention to the invisible, non-existent whiteboard code name JARVIS:

1. Using our state-of-the-art scorecard, we grade:
2. Obstacles/Conflict
3. Tone
4. Concept

The minimum score for a section and card is one. The maximum score is five. Finally, we decide if it’s a recommend or a pass.

Now, in honor of Stan Lee and Marvel, we’ll be tackling the villainous threat of Mr. Lee’s favorite comic book character, Venom, brought to us by Sony and starring Tom Hardy.

1. Setting/Characters

For all of you on the West Coast, I think you’ll appreciate that this film is set in San Francisco, CA, but it’s FOR CERTAIN not set in the present with the scientific advancements in this film (that man Drake ain’t no Tony Stark, you know what I’m sayin'). Now, I’ve personally never been that far west, but several times throughout the movie, they give us some beautiful scenes. Those odd visuals provide a good mix to some of the obstacles thrown onto our main protagonist. Shit rolls downhill—like a turd in the wind—and this man, from the very beginning, was on the receiving end of it all. Along with another character, our black cannibalistic goo, he gets through the fuckery he got himself caught up in. *This is why we don’t talk to strange people following us through a mini mart.*

The shit continues to roll...

Much of this film is spent within chaos and destruction with us being the poor souls tossed in the middle of it all—yet, the film still finds a way to provide us insight into our main guy’s life. His terrible display of self-restraint, his selfish behavior, and his absolute hatred for terrible human beings. Hey, the man makes good out of a head-eating, violent extraterrestrial organism. Granted all that’s cool and everything, it just leaves too much open to question and confusion while trying to move story along, making it a little hard to watch at some moments, but that isn’t enough to kill the enjoyment…

Score: 4

2. Obstacles/Conflict

We can do whatever WE want—that’s badass. He knows nobody fuckin' with the newly formed dynamic duo *cough cough* ynless their name is Peter Parker *cough cough* because Earth is on the verge of becoming uninhabitable, thanks to us and we need alternatives (at least that’s what we’re being told). The film creates heart-pounding conflict for most of its characters, which works with intertwining their lives. On one head, you’ve got two losers (a man and his parasite—I’m sorry Venom—what can go wrong with that? I’ll wait.) then you’ve got a power-hungry maniac... YES! A maniac, because anyone who willingly brings a space organism back to Earth is out of their GOT DAMN MIND! What did he think would happen? Talk about some misplaced optimism.

What do you get when you bring the losers and the maniac together? That’s easy: Symbiote Intercourse. (It was funnier in my head.) You also get an insane final battle that brings everything full circle, so even with a PG-13 rating and the violence toned down, it is still utterly satisfying watching two conflicting humans and two conflicting symbiotes battling for their respective futures. Bravo, Venom. Bravo.

Score: 4

3. Tone

Grim. Ominous. I mean, how many people were killed in the very beginning of the movie? That should tell you something. This film pulled us into a problematic world, and even with those beautiful visuals I spoke about earlier, you can’t get passed the dark, gritty, and violent structure created. Personally, I have no issues with the film going that route because Venom deserves that type of mood. Somehow, that truly helped with making this film work and making us want to stick around until the end. Oh? More bad shit is about to pop off. I CAN’T WAIT! One last thing, there are some comedic moments within the film, but just too few to bring balance among all the carnage.

Score: 4

4. Concept

Like with all superhero films, this movie is based around a story arc from the comic books (Lethal Protector and Planet of the Symbiotes), however, it's my firm belief that you CANNOT have Venom without Spider-Man. Even though the film does work with creating and removing this character’s association with Spider-Man, how dare you do such a thing! We don’t see what happens with the other symbiotes, but if they’re going to continue to follow the Lethal Protector storyline moving forward, then somewhere down the line, Peter Parker will need to make an appearance. Just my two cents.

Score: 2

Overall Score: 3.5/5

Final Verdict: Recommended

Even with this film striding away from the comic books, it’s still a good film. Tom Hardy plays a fantastic Eddie Brock. As a comic book fan you should feel an obligation to watch this film, even if you don’t agree with the direction taken or the exclusion of Spider-Man. Overall, this film is entertaining and with this cast, it works exceptionally well. If you haven’t already, go watch Venom, you won’t be disappointed (well, maybe you will, but that’s not our problem).

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for stopping by! Until next time, that’s all we’ve got for you guys.

REST WELL STAN LEE! YOU WILL BE TRULY MISSED!