I grew up reading comics. All kinds of comics, but my favourites were always Spider-man. I always found that the villains seemed to hold more weight in those comics. The Green Goblin, Tombstone, Doctor Octopus, and of course, Venom. Venom for me changed how Spidey had to fight and deal with a villain because Venom held most of the same abilities as Spider-man, and more. But, he was also so much more violent than most villains Spidey had to fight. But, this is about Venom, not about Spider-man.
The Venom most of us knew from the comics is not in this movie. That doesn't mean that it's a bad movie, let's get that out of the way right now. It's just... Not what you might expect from Venom. There are certainly hints of that creature throughout the movie. There were many times where I thought, "Oh yes! He's going to bite this guy's head off" and... then the camera cuts away. You still knew it happened, but it really lost the feeling of how vicious and brutal this character could be. I sound like a maniac I'm sure. Fitting Venom with a PG-13 rating kinda' crippled Venom's impact; it's kinda' like watching Deadpool and having him not swear. In its-self, it's fine, but it's not really Deadpool. Simply put, to do Venom real justice, the movie should have been "R" rated. There should have been scenes of Venom ripping limbs off or biting faces with blood all over the place. Instead, I'm not sure you ever see blood in the movie associated to a Venom head-on attack. It felt watered down or cut obscurely to fit into the PG-13 rating.
The action sequences are well done, but to me felt a little over-the-top at times and drawn out. The movie moves slowly for the first maybe 30 minutes, like, slowly to the point where I was starting to think, "When do we actually see Venom?". The movie delves deep into the destruction of Eddie Brock's (Tom Hardy) life, which doesn't sound terrible, until you realize you're still watching it 30 minutes in.
There were many moments in the movie that I felt were well done. Shots that were taken in a way that you could sense the horror bestowed by Venom's presence. The problem was as soon as the scenes started to get a little scary, they cut away, change the scene or, Venom does a one-liner. The jokes were well done; the relationship between Venom and Eddie was hilarious, but I'm not sure it was supposed to be funny all the time.
Another issue the movie had throughout in many, many occasions was consistency. Sometimes Eddie was a tough guy, then the next scene he'd be a wimp. Sometimes Venom would be overbearingly in control of Eddie, other times the symbiote was passive, almost not there. One second Eddie is in Love with Anne (Michelle Williams), the next, it's like she doesn't exist to him.
The main villain Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) was also a little strange. The acting was well done, and the actions that he does are surely villainous, but I just didn't buy that overall, he was a villain. He had his reasons for doing what he was doing, as all villains do, and he was certainly cruel to people, but he just didn't give off the "Bad Guy" vibe.
One of the last points I'll make here, is Sony really, in my opinion, missed the mark on what makes an "Anti-hero". Venom is easily portrayed throughout the movie as a hero doing what must be done to achieve his final goal. Yes, he kills people that get in his way. That doesn't make him an Anti-hero though. Google describes the word "Anti-hero" as: "a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes." That is just not the case in this movie. He easily shows stereotypical heroic characteristics such as saving or sparing people several times and doing "what's right". Yes, again, he eats and kills people which is clearly not conventional, but it's also not all that it should take to call someone an "Anti-hero".
Strangely enough, for all the criticisms I'm spewing out here, I did enjoy the movie though. It is the weirdest feeling to see all these flaws in a movie, and yet, having to admit that I enjoyed myself. This movie is actually difficult for me to properly rate on my 10-star usual system. The parts that worked, hit home runs, the parts that didn't, fell into the abyss. Overall, I'd watch it again at home, but I wouldn't pay for another theater ticket for it. That's not to say you shouldn't. As always, you should view the film and make up your own mind. The friend I went with quite enjoyed the movie, although she did admit she didn't remember the comic appearances of Venom. Maybe that's why I'm a little harder on the film; I was hoping for something that was simply impossible without Spider-man.
Let me know in the comments what you thought of the movie and whether I'm right on the money, or out to lunch here.
Overall score: 6 out of 10 stars
Pros:
- Humor was great
- Story was decent, for the most part
- Horror vibe at times
- Great action sequences
- Great relationship between Venom and Eddie Brock
Cons:
- Poor main (human) character chemistry
- Inconsistency in how characters act vs feeling
- Predictable ending
- CGI isn't the best for Venom
- Nowhere close to the comics, like, at all
- Extreme pacing issues
The Venom most of us knew from the comics is not in this movie. That doesn't mean that it's a bad movie, let's get that out of the way right now. It's just... Not what you might expect from Venom. There are certainly hints of that creature throughout the movie. There were many times where I thought, "Oh yes! He's going to bite this guy's head off" and... then the camera cuts away. You still knew it happened, but it really lost the feeling of how vicious and brutal this character could be. I sound like a maniac I'm sure. Fitting Venom with a PG-13 rating kinda' crippled Venom's impact; it's kinda' like watching Deadpool and having him not swear. In its-self, it's fine, but it's not really Deadpool. Simply put, to do Venom real justice, the movie should have been "R" rated. There should have been scenes of Venom ripping limbs off or biting faces with blood all over the place. Instead, I'm not sure you ever see blood in the movie associated to a Venom head-on attack. It felt watered down or cut obscurely to fit into the PG-13 rating.
The action sequences are well done, but to me felt a little over-the-top at times and drawn out. The movie moves slowly for the first maybe 30 minutes, like, slowly to the point where I was starting to think, "When do we actually see Venom?". The movie delves deep into the destruction of Eddie Brock's (Tom Hardy) life, which doesn't sound terrible, until you realize you're still watching it 30 minutes in.
There were many moments in the movie that I felt were well done. Shots that were taken in a way that you could sense the horror bestowed by Venom's presence. The problem was as soon as the scenes started to get a little scary, they cut away, change the scene or, Venom does a one-liner. The jokes were well done; the relationship between Venom and Eddie was hilarious, but I'm not sure it was supposed to be funny all the time.
Another issue the movie had throughout in many, many occasions was consistency. Sometimes Eddie was a tough guy, then the next scene he'd be a wimp. Sometimes Venom would be overbearingly in control of Eddie, other times the symbiote was passive, almost not there. One second Eddie is in Love with Anne (Michelle Williams), the next, it's like she doesn't exist to him.
The main villain Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) was also a little strange. The acting was well done, and the actions that he does are surely villainous, but I just didn't buy that overall, he was a villain. He had his reasons for doing what he was doing, as all villains do, and he was certainly cruel to people, but he just didn't give off the "Bad Guy" vibe.
One of the last points I'll make here, is Sony really, in my opinion, missed the mark on what makes an "Anti-hero". Venom is easily portrayed throughout the movie as a hero doing what must be done to achieve his final goal. Yes, he kills people that get in his way. That doesn't make him an Anti-hero though. Google describes the word "Anti-hero" as: "a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes." That is just not the case in this movie. He easily shows stereotypical heroic characteristics such as saving or sparing people several times and doing "what's right". Yes, again, he eats and kills people which is clearly not conventional, but it's also not all that it should take to call someone an "Anti-hero".
Strangely enough, for all the criticisms I'm spewing out here, I did enjoy the movie though. It is the weirdest feeling to see all these flaws in a movie, and yet, having to admit that I enjoyed myself. This movie is actually difficult for me to properly rate on my 10-star usual system. The parts that worked, hit home runs, the parts that didn't, fell into the abyss. Overall, I'd watch it again at home, but I wouldn't pay for another theater ticket for it. That's not to say you shouldn't. As always, you should view the film and make up your own mind. The friend I went with quite enjoyed the movie, although she did admit she didn't remember the comic appearances of Venom. Maybe that's why I'm a little harder on the film; I was hoping for something that was simply impossible without Spider-man.
Let me know in the comments what you thought of the movie and whether I'm right on the money, or out to lunch here.
Overall score: 6 out of 10 stars
Pros:
- Humor was great
- Story was decent, for the most part
- Horror vibe at times
- Great action sequences
- Great relationship between Venom and Eddie Brock
Cons:
- Poor main (human) character chemistry
- Inconsistency in how characters act vs feeling
- Predictable ending
- CGI isn't the best for Venom
- Nowhere close to the comics, like, at all
- Extreme pacing issues
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