Review of Venom (2018) by D?Vis D — 04 Oct 2018

This film was not what I expected. It's tonal shifts were unexpected and frequent but somehow they stuck with me and resonated well at times (minus a few comedic lines that didn't). I somewhat hoped for a darker, more horror styled film but the comedy and quips filled this movie with some really good laughs.

I went in knowing the critics had been bashing it, hearing the reviews of it being as poor of a movie as Catwoman. Give me a break. Give the film a chance. Sure a few plot holes filled this movie, and tonally, maybe this film wasn't for you. But the truth is, critics have unrealistic expectations of what a "superhero" film should be like. Venom is an anti-hero who works outside the realm of your chiseled wonder boy in tights who follows a tight line fighting for his country and all that honor mumbo jumbo. In essence, this film is a unique delivery of a story of an anti-hero whereas critics went in expecting a superhero flick.

Like I said, the film isn't without its plot holes and does not follow the comics as directly as I expected and hoped for but in doing so it made for a unique and unexpected story. I understand it may not be a film for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I will say, the final fight scene was short, hard to follow, and not an entirely wonderful climax to a promising build up. It was a disappointing ending climax to an otherwise good story. The fight ended all to easily, all too early and started way too late in the film. I would have cut out the middle man in the story (Drake's security team and right hand man), give Drake the Riot symbiote earlier and have him really cement himself as the big bad of the movie. Give Venom and Riot multiple fights, have Venom lose horribly the first time, let him learn a lesson of working with his host or something, give us a real reason to root for Venom and Eddie, show us that Riot is this huge, fearful symbiote that is truly better than all the others. That's some of my beef with this movie: Venom didn't have any hardship, it was easy for him throughout the whole movie, he never felt defeat and was never broken (help us relate to an alien symbiote somehow), we never had any reason to believe he was going to lose, therefore Riot never actually felt like a real threat. Riot wasn't built up, he wasn't proven as this big badass, he wasn't proven to be anything other than an uglier symbiote that could shape his arms into weapons and shoot spikes. Give us a real reason to root for venom, give us a real reason to hate and fear Riot as a villian!

That being said, Tom Hardy was phenomenal, as always. The duality of his characters hits well and he plays both parts tremendously. Watching their bond unfold is a spectical in itself, from the time they first bond up until Eddie truly gets comfortable with Venom under his skin was probably my favorite part of the movie. His struggle up to his comfortability is fun to watch.

Now for the potential sequel, (for the love of god, please see this movie so we can get a sequel) portraying Woody Harrelson's Cletus Cassidy, is exactly what I want to see. Imagining a darker, horror styled venom/carnage movie is exactly where my head is at right now. Please give me the opportunity to see Woody as Cletus Cassidy and Carnage on the big screen. From the short minute of him on the screen as Cassidy in the mid-credit scene, I craved a sequel. I actually saw a villain who I can actually fear, a villain we all can root against. A twisted, demented, psycho who, with a performance from Woody, could become one of the most notorious villains in comic book movie history. One who could resonate similar to Ledger's Joker or Brolin's Thanos, someone who helps us as an audience stand behind Venom and say 'kill that mother fucker.' An A lister vs an A lister, two incredible performers delving into a dark and sinister story about Carnage reeking havoc on San Fran. Yes please. Now that is the struggle story, the rise and fall and rise again type of story that I want out of a Venom movie.