Venom
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writer: Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, Kelly Marcel
Based on: David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane‘s comics character
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, Melora Walters, Woody Harrelson, Peggy Lu
Seen on: 5.10.2018
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Plot:
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is a journalist and he loves to dig deep. When he gets the chance to interview Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) who runs a huge tech company, he can’t resist asking some hard questions. But that choice leads for his entire life to explode around him – he loses his job and his girlfriend Anne (Michelle Williams). A year later, he is still reeling – and still obsessed with Drake. So when he gets a chance to take another dig at him, he does – and that brings him in touch with one of Drake’s projects: Venom, an alien who hitches a ride in his body.

Venom was a lot more fun than I expected. It’s not necessarily a good film, but it is definitely entertaining and very enjoyable.

I went into Venom, I expected a film that I would need copious amounts of alcohol for to make my own fun with it because I didn’t think the film would provide it unhelped. But hey, Tom Hardy is a very good reason to watch it regardless. So when the film turned out to be actually entertaining, I was very pleasantly surprised.

It is especially good when you watch it as a RomCom with Eddie and Venom as the couple. It’s got all the hallmarks of that and it really is glorious. Plus, Hardy is just really, really good and proves his comedic talent (again). The often a bit cheesy script also does some nice foundation work with the characters who all could have been very stereotypical but take a turn away from stereotype toward likability. I appreciated that. A lot.

But it’s after the set-up that the film runs into trouble. It appears that they left a lot of the second act on the cutting room floor. So Venom turns from down with mass extinction to actively fighting against it way too quickly and his relationship with Eddie runs where it should have walked. That means crucial character development is missing as we go directly from the set-up to the showdown. And the showdown isn’t quite as good as it could have been as the effects are passable and not great there.

Still, Venom was a pleasant surprise that I honestly enjoyed. And I also enjoy the Symbrock fandom that is full of good stuff and a wicked sense of humor. So that’s a definite double win right there.

Summarizing: Fun.