Venom

Venom

Starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

The Story:
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is an investigative journalist living in San Francisco with his fiancee Anne (Michelle Williams).  He's given the chance to interview Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), the young CEO of the Life Foundation, which is investigating finding life on other planets to help mankind.  Brock harasses Drake due to his many legal issues, and is kicked out of the interview, fired, and looses his fiancee.  Six months later, he's contacted by Life Foundation scientist Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate), who informs Brock that the Life Foundation is using human test subjects to combine them with alien symbiotes that they found in space.

Brock breaks into the compound and one of the symbiotes infuses itself with him, becoming Venom - a tall, powerful alien who has a desire to eat heads.  As the two beings learn to co-exist in the same body, Drake goes in search of his missing symbiote, and discovers another living symboite named Riot that plans to bring other symboites to Earth to take it over, and Brock and Venom must learn to work together to stop him before it happens.

The Synopsis:
Sony decided to finally make their own Marvel Cinematic Universe, centering on the only brand they currently own - Spider-Man - with "Venom" serving as the launchpad for the new universe.  Before the film's release, "Venom" was screened for critics, who lambasted the film as an absolute disaster, giving the film a measly 29% on Rotten Tomatoes.  The film looked like it would suffer the same fate as "The Mummy" last year - the inaugural opener for a new cinematic universe falling flat on its face and likely ending a franchise before it began.

Then "Venom" was released to the general public, and while some agreed with the critics, many more dissented from them, giving the film a very hearty 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.   I didn't get to see it until a few days after its release, but after viewing it, I'm agreeing with the general movie-going public - even though it's got issues, it's far from the negative reviews critics gave it.

Tom Hardy is one of cinema's most recent underrated actors, a man who literally gives his all in his performances.  Whether he's bulking up to play the villain Bane, or taking on duel leading roles in "Legend," or re-vitalizing the "Mad Max" franchise, the man is a force of nature on the big screen.  "Venom" wouldn't have worked without his amazing performance, and he manages to give the film a dark humor that's greatly needed.  Here he plays everyman Eddie Brock, a journalist who looses everything after he foolishly calls out the bad guy for being a bad guy, and finds himself out of luck, out of a job, and out of a relationship.  We feel for the character, and even though he's down on the dumps, he still manages to entertain through humor.

After finding out his hunch was correct, Brock learns that there's alien beings on Earth thanks to the ruthless founder of the Life Foundation, who plans to fuse these alien beings with humans in order to create something more powerful.  One of these symbiotes fuses with Brock, creating Venom, a ruthless maniacal killer who enjoys feasting on the heads of its victims.  This is when the movie really kicks into high gear, as Venom first appears as a villain but slowly becomes the anti-hero we all need.

While the beginning part of the film is rather boring and typical - with the generic introduction of our future hero and villain - it's the moment Brock and Venom fuse that the film really takes off.  Seeing how Brock and Venom interact with one another is darkly humorous and surprisingly heartfelt, as both view themselves as losers in their respective lives.  This is what makes the bond all the stronger, and what changes Venom's views on destroying the world to saving it instead.  The connection between the two grow stronger, and so does our love for both characters - they play off each other so well, which is no surprise since Venom was voiced by Hardy as well.

The action is rather typical for a film like this, with intense fighting sequences and thrilling car chases, with a typical climactic ending battle between two CGI-led creatures, and while these fights aren't new, they're far from boring and messy.

Many critics criticize Michelle Williams' performance, and to me she did a fine job, despite agreeing with the fact that her facial expressions never really changed.  She seemed to float through her performance, and I do think it was a wasted character for this Oscar-nominee, but she was still enjoyable and did more than many other love interests in superhero films.

Another thing I will agree with the critics with deals with the villain.  Riz Ahmed plays Carlton Drake, the founder of the Life Foundation, who wises to fuse symbiotes with humans so they can survive longer.  Ahmed plays the villain like most villains in films like this, nothing special or extraordinary.  He basically serves as the catalyst for the hero to overcome, and isn't given any real depth, but ultimately we don't care.

The effects in the film is really good, despite having it filmed mostly at night, since Venom himself is dark.  Sometimes it was hard to see what was happening, but those moments didn't detract from the film as a whole.  Venom's CGI was impressive, even if it's been made fun of in memes since the first trailer was released, and I think it was very well done.

The one major issue I had with the film is the fact that it wasn't rated R.  Venom is a creature who enjoys eating heads off people - and does so a few times here - but the film is bogged down for its PG-13 rating and it wasn't allowed to fully open up and become a memorable R-rated superhero movie like "Deadpool" or "Logan," and I think if it did get the R-rating, it would've been something truly spectacular.  Originally, the film was set to be rated R, but Sony wanted to tone down the language and violence so the film could be the first in its Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, and I feel that was a detriment to the film as a whole - although it was still enjoyable.

Overall, I don't really understand the hate "Venom" gets, because I found myself entertained throughout the film.  It's far from an absolute disaster, and while it's not the most perfect superhero origin story I've seen, it's still got a strong heart at the center - and that comes from Tom Hardy.

The Summary:
A film that should be seen, "Venom" rises above the critical critiques and becomes a thrilling, darkly humorous, and even emotional superhero origin film that features Tom Hardy in another fantastic performance.

The Score: A