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    REVIEW: Venom is not what Sony needs it to be

    By Matthew Martin
    | October 5, 2018
    Movie Reviews

    And now we have a Venom movie.

    Unlike Spider-Man: Homecoming, which was creatively-developed by Kevin Feige and his MCU team, Venom is purely a Sony operation. They envisioned the movie (hoping it can launch a franchise), they worked with the writers to craft the story, they hired the actors, they did it all. And the result is…probably what you’d expect from a fully-Sony-created Venom movie.

    Venom Poster

    If you were expecting Fantastic Four (the 2015 abomination) you were always looking at this wrong. Sony rarely has never released a Marvel movie quite that deplorable. Their best movies were the first two Spider-Man movies (the first being good popcorn fun and the second being one of the best of its era), but even at their worst there was a veneer of competence that is simply lacking in the worst of the Fox Marvel movies (X-Men 3, Fant4stic); it’s just that almost stuck the landing feeling doesn’t really get you a lot when the plane still ends up in a ditch ten feet from the runway.

    Almost isn’t good enough.

    Venom, the Marvel character, has a very interesting back story. It’s at least as interesting as Doc Ock’s or the Lizard’s. It’s a notch below the Green Goblin’s but it’s more compelling than Shocker or Vulture (though MCU Vulture had a nice little arc). There was material to work with, and Sony really wants to make a Marvel movie all by themselves that makes bank. They’ve had diminishing returns with Amazing Spider-Man 1-2 and even though they reaped 100% of the profit from Homecoming, it wasn’t a “Sony” movie, and the company is well-aware what fans think about their ownership of the Spider-Man license. They have no premeditated good will here. Even a mediocre or passable movie isn’t going to be good enough; they need a great movie.

    Is Venom?

    Gif Miss Piggy No

    This was the most boring “super hero” movie I’ve seen since…I don’t even know. Even Fant4stick (which was a worse movie) was at least engaging in how terrible it was.

    This movie was just there.

    And on those few occasions when it did pick up and get moving, it slipped into stupidity, with Venom spiting out one-liners and try-hard comedy/snarky lines. Those were the worst moments and they came in the middle of the most lively scenes, ruining them as a result.

    There’s something about seeing this character—that comic fans are always going to associate with a parasitic villain—instead be a wisecracking, lovable loser alien “sim-bi-oat” that says “thank you” and dispenses relationship advice…it all just rubbed me the wrong way. The whole premise of the movie started out on the wrong foot.

    Venom Michelle Williams Tom Hardy

    Michelle Willaims’ acting was also really bad and Riz Ahmed was a comic book movie villain straight out of the mid-90’s. In fact, this whole movie felt like it came from an alternate universe where comic book movies never really evolved out of the mid-90’s era.

    Venom Riz Ahmed

    Woody Harrelson as Carrot Top brought the biggest reaction from the theater I attended, but it was unintentional comedy.

    One of the complaints I knew about before the movie’s release was that there wasn’t enough “Venom” to be seen, but it seemed to me like the movie was exposed with as much of the character as they did show. This is not a character that can carry a franchise. He has no “rogue’s gallery” (Carnage is it in terms of rivals) because he, himself, is a rogue. Watching him jump around looking like The Swamp Thing was dunked in oil and splattered with semen just didn’t work. The character actually looked better in Spider-Man 3, flawed as that take was (too skinny). At least that one had a proper logo on his chest.

    The more I saw this Venom fighting folks, whether ordinary people with guns or giant copycat-symbiote monsters, the more hollow the experience felt.

    Venom Tom Hardy 2

    Venom’s story only works as an extension of Spider-Man’s. It’s an alien symbiote that took advantage of Peter Parker and became an inner foil for him until he finally shed it in a moment of triumph…only for the parasite to latch on to an even more dangerous host and become a proper villain. That’s a great story. It’s also a great SPIDER-MAN story. It’s not Venom’s story and this movie’s attempt to remove Spider-Man from the equation and create a new backstory for “Eddie Brock” just failed to connect with me.

    I know Sony will want to press forward and make a Carnage movie, but I really hope this is a one and done. There wasn’t anything worth continuing here.

    If you stay until the credits end you’re treated to an extended teaser of the new animated Spider-Man movie coming out this December. Unlike Venom, it looks well-made, fun, clever, sharply-written, etc. It probably cost half what Venom did and hopefully will earn double; why not just make that your thing, Sony? Stop trying to make live-action Marvel movies. It’s not 2004 anymore. The moment has passed you by.

    3/10 – Venom is a waste of time and characters.

    Pass.

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    11 Comments
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    Thatcher
    Thatcher
    4 years ago

    Goodness me, I suppose I’m a rare fan then. I wish the characters had been developed a little more, but overall I enjoyed this one. I welcomed the opportunity to see Venom as something more than a super villain and this film does that in spades.

    0
    Reply
    Sharq
    Sharq
    4 years ago

    This is unfortunate for an actor of Tom Hardy’s calibre, who is also my favourite actor. He’s been great in a number of movies such as Warrior, Lawless,The Dark Knight Rises and the TV series, Peaky Blinders. Maybe this just wasn’t his kind of role.

    0
    Reply
    MidNight
    MidNight
    4 years ago

    I wouldn’t score the film as low as 3/10, though I agree that it has many weak parts. I laughed at some scenes because I thought they were randomly funny, but I stepped out of the theater feeling confused because I thought Venom would be darker than that. I’d say the cast is the saving grace when the plot has too many holes to fill.

    0
    Reply
    Bigfoot
    Bigfoot
    4 years ago

    I agree with the article that the story is really poor. I would say, however, that Tom Hardy made justice to the movie with his acting skills. Of course, the CGI effects have a lot to do with the movie, but Tom’s acting made the movie likable, at least.

    0
    Reply
    Micah
    Micah
    4 years ago

    I enjoyed the show for the effects, but not the story. If I’m not mistaken, the creatures that attacked Wakanda (FOREVER, hahaha!) in Avengers: Infinity War were symbiotes. In Venom, they try to make one symbiote into a good character.

    0
    Reply
    Stargazer
    Stargazer
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Micah

    I guess we can all agree that the writers have overhauled the character of venom in this movie. We have grown to love (or hate) this character in the Spider-man storyline that creating a new story is like betraying the story that we have loved.

    0
    Reply
    Rebel
    Rebel
    4 years ago

    Wow. That review will really hurt Sony, but I hope they will learn from it if ever they will read this. I haven’t watched it yet so I will not judge it yet. I was actually excited from the trailers, but now I’m not raising my hopes up.

    0
    Reply
    Micah
    Micah
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Rebel

    You can critique the movie depending on what or how you wanted to watch the movie. The review doesn’t hurt Sony because Matthew made a very objective review regarding the movie, and I agree with him to some degree.

    0
    Reply
    Rebel
    Rebel
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Micah

    I’ve watched this weekend. I can understand why you guys commented this way regarding the movie. Maybe we were expecting too much and that is why we felt cheated. However, with watching the film without expecting too much then it can be enjoyable to watch.

    0
    Reply
    Micah
    Micah
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Rebel

    What Sony should have done is to continue with the Spider-Man narrative, then they can have a spin-off about Venom. Creating a new narrative about Venom will not attract fans of the comic books.

    0
    Reply
    Snarky-Guru
    Snarky-Guru
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Micah

    I thought this film was Sony’s attempt of a Venom spin-off from the Spider-Man storyline. It was just poorly done. Venom’s costume is truly baffling. With all those skilled artists at their disposal and all that money to throw at it, Sony came up with a blob of ink with teeth. I’ve seen better cosplay outfits.

    0
    Reply

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