Today’s quick review: Venom. Investigative reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) has just hit rock bottom, losing his job and his girlfriend Anne (Michelle Williams) after a failed expose on Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), a brilliant futurist and the head of the Life Foundation. But Eddie gets a bizarre second chance when he becomes bonded to Venom, a symbiotic alien with an insatiable appetite brought to Earth for study by the Life Foundation.
Venom is a dark sci-fi action movie based on the Marvel Comics character. The movie pairs Eddie Brock, a down-on-his-luck reporter, with Venom, an alien lifeform known as a symbiote that gives its host incredible powers at a terrible cost. Venom delivers an excellent blend of action and comedy at the cost of almost everything else. The result is a deeply flawed but highly enjoyable watch that manages to hit the target it’s aiming for.
Venom is something of a throwback. In spite of its modern special effects and its willingness to embrace the extremes of its source material, it has little in common with the modern superhero genre. The plot is linear, the world-building is thin, and the cast has no standout performances save for Tom Hardy himself. From a technical perspective, Venom is a slipshod movie that leaves much of its considerable potential on the table.
But for all of its faults, Venom nails the one aspect it needs the most: its spirit. Venom is an unabashedly fun movie that thrives on the dynamic between Eddie Brock and his symbiote. The symbiote acts as Eddie’s warped, surrogate id, supplying him with an endless string of bloodthirsty suggestions that Eddie does his best to ignore. These exchanges provide the film with a surprisingly effective source of black humor.
The symbiote also lets Venom indulge in some truly creative action. The symbiote has great screen presence when it fully manifests itself, and the action scenes are ample proof that the alien is an absolute monster when it comes to combat. The action lacks the depth of bigger-budget offerings, but it’s fast-paced, makes great use of Venom’s powers, and manages to avoid the worst of the gore that would normally accompany a character like Venom.
Watch Venom when you’re in the mood for a popcorn action flick with some bite to it. Its cast and story leave something to be desired, but its unique style of action and humor make it a breezy, entertaining watch nonetheless. Skip it if you’re looking for a modern superhero epic, a horror movie, or a masterful comedy. For a darker, funnier, and more polished Marvel adaptation, try Deadpool. For sci-fi action in a similar vein, try the Blade trilogy.
7.1 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 for schlocky fun.