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'Venom' Movie Review

The world has enough superheroes.

By Jayson NievesPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Venom is a character that I've been a fan of since childhood. He is an alien parasite that bonds with an ex reporter named Eddie Brock, turning him into nightmarish version of the Marvel superhero Spider-Man which is a remarkably cool idea for a movie. That being said, I haven't enjoyed a Sony Pictures made Spider-Man film since Spider-Man 3 back in 2007 so my expectations for this film were moderate. The best thing I can say about Venom is that it goes for it. This film isn't afraid to be incredibly goofy and ridiculous most of the time, especially Tom Hardy's comedic performance as Eddie Brock. At times, Hardy reminded me of Jim Carrey's energetic performances in his heyday. However, most of the performances feel phoned in and done for a paycheck. Michelle Williams knows she can do much better but this superhero film could get her more money and notoriety then ever before so she just does half the effort she normally would. The average performances don't feel in tune with the rest of the wild film. Jenny Slate is given next to nothing and while I'm usually a fan of Riz Ahmed, his villain character was useless and not threatening whatsoever. The climactic fight in the film was pretty bad, with the camerawork and the unconvincing CGI making the fight hard to comprehend.

To be completely honest, Tom Hardy with his over the top performance, the admittedly fantastic cinematography and the promise of Venom were the only things that kept me on board through the first half of the film. The story is extremely slow and uneventful for a very long time until Venom is introduced, then I started to enjoy myself for both the right and wrong reasons. Scenes in the first hour aren't as memorable as Tom Hardy jumping into a lobster tank due to the symbiote increasing his body heat. The action is very much so a positive and features some very fun yet very tame violence. I was very disappointed by the lack of blood, especially when Venom would BITE HEADS OFF. A year ago when this film was announced, the initial reports said this would be an R rated horror film which set the comic book movie world ablaze. My suspicion is Sony changed their minds before they began rolling cameras but didn't bother to report it. But as I said, the action is pretty fun either way, besides the final one. An action sequence that involves Venom fighting a group of SWAT team members was a highlight since it's one of the 2 fight scenes that we can actually comprehend but would have been better if the film was allowed to push the level of violence. The car chase in the middle of the film would fool you into thinking you're watching a good movie due to its expert editing, stunt work and VFX. There are several moments in the last act that I laughed at due to pure absurdity that made the $11 worth it, but the pure boredom I experienced in the first half was painful.

As a fan of the Venom character, I was a bit disappointed by this film despite some fun moments and a pretty dynamic performance. I don't think Venom is as bad as some critics think but I don't blame them for shutting down in the first half or rolling their eyes when Michelle Williams (who is covered in the symbiote) kisses Tom Hardy in order to transfer Venom onto him. If you go in expecting something stupid, you'll enjoy it. I however think Venom deserves a better film.

2.5/5

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About the Creator

Jayson Nieves

Film is my passion

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