Venom is a film that should be decent enough in theory. Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, and Riz Ahmed are all incredibly talented actors who I have loved a lot in other stuff. Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, 30 Minutes or Less) is an okay enough director, not exactly an auteur but one who sounded passionate about the project. Having a character like Venom as the focus without Spider-Man is an interesting idea, though the question was whether or not it could actually be pulled off.
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| Tom Hardy in Venom |
Some people have compared Venom to Catwoman, which isn't just one of the worst superhero movies of all time, it's one of the worst movies of all time. I'm inclined to disagree, though there is a subplot involving Eddie's neighbor that's very similar to a subplot involving a neighbor in Catwoman. It's better than Catwoman, but it's also less enjoyable. Catwoman is a horrible movie, but it's fun to watch in an ironic way. Venom is less aggressively bad than Catwoman, but it's also more bland and boring as a result.
I suppose the first problem with Venom is that there's nothing about it that feels special. Superhero movies are very popular right now so there needs to be something to really make it standout. One would think that the anti-hero approach would make it feel more unique, but the execution is so by-the-numbers. The film is so hesitant to show Venom doing anything villainous that he doesn't feel that interesting. The only thing that really stands out is how everything feels weaker than your average blockbuster. The characters, the visuals, the action all feel underwhelming.
But first, I'll discuss somethings that I liked. I chuckled a couple times. There was something intentionally pretty funny about Venom commenting on how he's a loser like Eddie Brock, so that's good. Seeing bongs normalized as background items in a story that nobody calls attention to is kinda nice, but I'm not giving the film any points for that because it doesn't actually add anything to the film. I also liked the character played by Reid Scott (Veep). I mean, the character isn't that special or anything, but as the new boyfriend of Eddie's ex-fiancee, it was pretty refreshing that they didn't make him a jerk. It's so cheap and easy to have stories about kind-hearted men winning back their exes who have left them for jerks, so it was nice that Reid Scott's character is portrayed as a genuinely nice guy (Please see #1 at the bottom for more spoiler-heavy insights into my full thoughts on this aspect).
But besides that, I can't really think of anything memorable about Venom. Even when it's not aggressively bad, it still feels generic. I love Tom Hardy and he's...fine, I suppose. He definitely tries his hardest and arguably elevates the film a TINY bit, but this is probably my least favorite performance from him. Michelle Williams feels like she's sleepwalking through this. This makes a lot more sense when you realize that she only did the film for the money and I can't say I blame her. In her own words:
“I wish there was always a clear, artistic line, but at a certain point, you have to square with the fact that you’re getting older, you live in the world and you have needs. In my twenties, I wasn’t cognizant of retirement, the housing market or college tuition; I just did whatever the fuck I wanted to do. Now, I sometimes do what I want to do, but I also have to make decisions that take care of my family. So, the decision-making is all over the place. It used to be one thing, but now it’s many things.”
Riz Ahmed has been a real rising star from Nightcrawler to The Night Of . So it's a shame that his villain character is so boring. There could be some attempt to give him some dimensions, since technically his goals are in the name of curing diseases and advancing humanity, but he reacts to everything in the most villainous way possible. Jenny Slate is okay as an ambivalent scientist working for Riz Ahmed, but she feels less like a character and more like a plot device. I'm not saying films need to take the time to add huge depth to every supporting character, but it'd be nice if I felt like she served some kind of purpose beyond introducing Eddie to the story's main conflict.
The script is pretty messy too, often times feeling like it's only concerned with advancing the plot agenda. It wants to get from Point A to Point B, but gives little thought into how to get there. Early on in the movie, Eddie has apparently been unemployed for 6 months, yet has still managed to live in a San Francisco apartment. The Venom symbiote is used in a surprising way yet is treated as insignificant by the characters. (Please see #2 at the bottom for more spoiler-heavy insights into my full thoughts on this aspect).
Likewise, Eddie is a flat protagonist with no real character arc or depth. He's an ambitious and sometimes reckless reporter who's a nice guy. That's about it. I can criticize a film like Doctor Strange for having a character arc that's pretty predictable, but at least that film had a character arc. In general, superhero origin stories should have character arcs and if they can't have one, they should have an interesting enough story to justify it. This film doesn't have either. (Please see #3 at the bottom for more spoiler-heavy insights into my full thoughts on this aspect).
Of course, lots have been said about the tonal issues. I suppose this is subjective but it didn't work for me. Venom does feel somewhat close to a horror-comedy, except it's not scary or funny. I did chuckle a couple times as mentioned above, but most of the attempts at buddy-comedy humor left me feeling nothing. There was a decent amount of laughter in the theater so don't take my word for it. Yet, I still felt like the film didn't know what it wanted to be. The first half feels very dark and serious before turning into a buddy-comedy once Venom enters. If anything, I would've preferred an opposite route. The film starts off humorous to relax the viewer before shocking them by entering darker territory once Venom comes in. Once again, that's personal preference so if what I described sounds like your type of movie, enjoy.
And hey, some people probably don't even care about the plot or characters, right? They just want cool action and visual effects. Well, I'd argue the film doesn't really deliver on that front either. Most of the visuals look really fake. It's not as bad as Justice League but I never felt like the characters were actually interacting with the symbiote. Likewise, the action isn't exciting at all. Eddie is a passive character, seemingly having little control over what the Venom symbiote does, basically just soliciting advice ("Don't eat police officers") and reacting, which takes a lot out of the excitement for me personally. Remember the promised R-rating that we didn't get? Well, this film isn't even a hard PG-13. It's incredibly tame. If your interest in the film was seeing Venom bite off people's heads with lots of blood everywhere, look elsewhere. There's basically no blood at all until the mid-credits scene. Then we get another generic CGI climax to wrap the film up where we can barely even tell what's going on.
By the time Venom was over, I felt underwhelmed. Nothing interesting to work as a good superhero film and nothing crappy enough to work as an entertaining bad movie. The mid-credits scene does feature one of the fakest wigs I've ever seen in the history of cinema, but besides that this film feels incredibly forgettable. I've already forgotten 99% of the jokes less than 24 hours after seeing the film. Like I said, there's apparently an audience for it, so all the more power to you if you enjoyed this movie or it sounds like something you'd like. But all it felt like to me was a dull corporate product, a mere attempt by Sony to keep the rights to a Spider-Man property and a waste of the talented actors involved.
Won’t lie, still pretty upset that Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed aren’t starring in The True American together anymore. Probably would’ve utilized their talents a lot better than this film.
3.5/10
SPOILER ALERT:
1. So as explained above, the portrayal of the character Dan (Reed Scott) as a genuinely nice guy rather than Eddie's bitter enemy was refreshing. What was even more refreshing was that not only does he not die, he's still with Anne at the end of the film. I figured that the film would find some way to force Eddie to get back together with Anne, and it'd be through either Dan being a jerk or Dan dying. Instead, Eddie doesn't get the girl and that was actually surprising. So congratulations, Venom, you did one thing right.
2. I'm referring to the scene where Eddie has been separated from the Venom symbiote and is about to be executed by some villainous henchman. Obviously, there's the cliche element where these henchman take forever to just shoot Eddie in the face when Venom, in a feminine form, appears, takes out the henchman and saves him. Then proceeds to kiss Eddie, causing the symbiote to transfer onto him, showing that Anne (Michelle Williams) had bonded with the symbiote to rescue him. Even though Eddie's bonding with Venom is shown to have a great physical and psychological effect on him, Anne seems pretty unfazed by the whole thing and it's not acknowledged again until a brief mention near the end of the film. The film's plot agenda needed Eddie to separate from Venom so Venom could save him later. But the film viewed Anne as nothing more than a plot device for Venom to temporarily attach to, so her emotional response to having her body taken over by an alien is completely ignored by the script.
3. I feel Venom could've been far more interesting if it showed Eddie being corrupted by the symbiote, gradually turning into a worse person over the course of the film. Now, maybe not everyone agrees that this is a direction that the film should've taken, but surely we can agree it's disappointing that Eddie doesn't develop at all. He's the exact same person at the end that he is at the beginning. The only difference is that now he has superpowers. I guess he's become mildly more assertive through Venom, since he's now eating people, but Eddie Brock as an individual hasn't really changed at all.
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