VENOM: Tom Hardy is Good and Bad in This Generic Superhero Mess

Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

Produced by: Amy Pascal, Avi Arad, Matthew Tolmach

Directed by: Ruben Fleischer

Written by: Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, Kelly Marcel

Production Company: Sony Pictures, Marvel

Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Jenny Slate, Riz Ahmed, Woody Harrelson                          Runtime: 112 minutes

SYNOPSIS: 

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), an investigative journalist, is obsessed with taking down Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), a space magnate who’s been using humans as part of a shady experiment involving an alien parasite called the Symbiote. Needing more than just his hard-as-nails investigative skills to stop Drake, Brock might have just found his answer when one of Drake’s symbiotes accidentally enters his body, granting him not only with superpowers, but also access to the darker, violent side of his personality: “Venom”. 

REVIEW: 

There had not been a single day that went by without a rumor of a standalone Venom movie. Venom isn’t just a fan favorite, but he’s also one of the most complex characters in the Marvel catalogue. Obviously, people had the right to be upset when Spiderman 3 (2007) picked Topher Grace, the twentysomething nerd from That 70’s Show (1998-2006), to be the first actor to bring the inhuman presence of Venom to cinematic life. As predicted before, Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom was a total miscast. But beyond that, Venom was wasted amongst the already bloated Spiderman 3, restricted to being a third act sideshow villain who’s there for like 10-15 minutes of a two-hour plus long movie, only to be killed off so easily after just one fight.  

Spiderman 3 proved to be such a traumatic experience for both Sony and Marvel that it took them a decade, even three Spidermen (Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland), before they finally gave the Venom movie the go-ahead. Taking a different approach from the source material’s tradition and certainly Spiderman 3, director Ruben Fleischer made the bold decision by excluding one of the main components in the Venom lore, or in other words, the inspiration behind the character’s physical appearance: Spiderman. On the one hand, some have reported that Venom is set in the same universe as Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)’s Spiderman Homecoming (2017). On the other, the fact that the first image surfacing of Venom in this movie shows his full form without the iconic spider emblem on his chest further emphasizes its intent on distancing itself from the Spiderman lore. 

Given the character’s enigmatic nature, Fleischer’s Venom is sadly a missed opportunity.  With a slightly lower budget than the average MCU production and its commendable willingness to be its own thing, this could have been a fresh, more intimate, darkly funny character study on split personality disorder with a superhero twist. Instead, whether it was studio interference, directorial vision or a combination of both, a large portion of Venom settles for the generic, CGI-heavy, all flash and bang superhero movie production that mistakes a weird mishmash of genres for a coherent story. 

Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg and Kelly Marcel receive screenwriting credits for Venom, and it is apparent that these three writers never actually sat down in one room, discussing, arguing or even agreeing on the best way to approach the source material cinematically. It’s like three people who have different ideas on what Venom is about. 

One might think it’s a body horror movie. Another one might think it’s a straightforward superhero movie. The other one might think it’s a twisted buddy cop movie starring a human and an alien parasite. Or in Marcel’s case (who happens to be the screenwriter for the first Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) movie, by the way), it’s a relationship drama involving an on-and-off couple in their mid-to-late thirties. Heck, with Riz Ahmed’s Elon Musk-esque character, it could have been conceived as an Elon Musk biopic in disguise. 

It’s a smorgasbord of stories upon stories, where three cooks take whatever is on the kitchen that resembles cake ingredients (some that goes with cake, some that don’t), and, without giving it another thought, mix them altogether, only to end up with a dish that leaves such an indistinct taste in the mouth. 

There are so many stories to go through that it takes forever to get to the Brock-Venom storyline. Venom features one of the slowest, most boring first acts ever put together on the silver screen this year.  Nothing against slow-moving first acts, such careful pacing may enable the audience to learn a great deal more about the main character as well as give them a strong enough reason to care for their plight. Venom’s slow-moving first act though gives absolutely nothing. 

Here, Eddie Brock is reintroduced as an investigative journalist. Time and time again, every character claims that Brock is “the best investigative journalist in the business”. Yet, the way this movie shows Brock as “the best investigative journalist in the business” is through quick montages of him just standing in front of the camera, reporting to the audience, with the aftermath of a crime scene as the backdrop. What makes Brock any different from the everyday television news reporter? Where’s all the investigating stuff? Eddie Brock is an investigative journalist who barely does any investigating throughout the movie’s runtime. Any time he stumbles across new information, they are so in-your-face that the only way you miss them is if you close your eyes. 

Beyond his occupation, if there is anything we learn about Eddie Brock as a character, it’s that first, he’s our main character, and that second, he looks cool when he rides the motorcycle. Besides that, he’s such a dry, uninteresting character, who’s nowhere near what the other characters describe him as “reckless” or “hard-as-nails”, but more of neither here nor there. Not to mention the cheesy “will they, won’t they” romantic subplot involving Brock and Michelle Williams’ character Anne Weying and the weighty science-y Elon Musk villain subplot with Riz Ahmed’s Carlton Drake, both of which feel like an awkward fit in a Venom movie. 

However, credit must be given where credit is due, Venom picks up quite drastically towards its second act. And it’s for the most obvious reason: Venom. Once the black, gooey parasite enters Eddie Brock’s body, it’s the rare instance where the movie becomes what the rest of it should have been: a fresh, more intimate, darkly funny character study on split personality disorder. 

The thing that is so impressive about Venom isn’t necessarily his superpowers, but more on how he manages to turn a boring lead character in the first act into a slightly more interesting one. As strange as this may sound, it is easier to care for Brock when he is an out-of-control lunatic who screams, “Food!” 

If there is ever any point in the movie where its attempt at relationship drama works, it is through the twisted, uneasy camaraderie between Brock and Venom. It’s a type of bond that, like any other split personality movies, plays with the Jekyll and Hyde trope, with Brock easily representing Jekyll, the much reserved, unwilling side of the host’s personality and Venom representing the more outgoing, impulsive side of it. 

And so, the highlight of the movie rests on Brock bickering with his other personality Venom, whether via him communicating with the voice in his head or straight at Venom’s face when it imposes its gooey, monstrous form. Let’s just say the CGI and the character design for Venom here is miles better than Topher Grace’s in Spiderman 3. It’s a look that feels more Venom-like in a sense that it perfectly combines the frightening, deranged and comical aspect of the character in the source material. 

It’s through Brock and Venom’s interplay where the movie’s attempt at humor is as close to being darkly funny, and where its attempt at a love story is as close to being genuine and, in an odd way, heartfelt.  As much as each personality is going at each other’s throats for control of Brock’s body, they need each other to fulfill their potential. The rest of their relationship arc thenceforth is about how each personality has to drown out their egos and learn to cooperate. 

Still, for all the solid work Venom put in Brock and Venom’s Jekyll and Hyde relationship, there remains a glaring inconsistency with the way the movie portrays the relationship between the Symbiotes and the humans, especially how the Symbiotes affect the human body.  Right off the bat, it is clear about what the Symbiote is: a deadly alien parasite. Basically, it’s like when one makes a sound in A Quiet Place (2018). Once the Symbiote enters one’s body, and at a particular moment, decides to leave it, then the humans are as good as dead. 

In Brock’s case though, he survives the Symbiote’s deadly potential. More than just surviving, he is also able to adapt to the idea of this deadly parasite inhabiting his body with considerable ease. One line from Venom in the movie reveals that the reason he keeps Brock alive, the reason he doesn’t kill Brock right away like what he did with the previous hosts is because he “likes” Brock. 

It’s a very basic, yet completely understandable excuse, but what’s incomprehensible is Brock’s casual reaction when he is affected by the Symbiotes. There is one moment midway through the movie when Brock is separated from Venom. As mentioned before, whereas everyone before Brock dropped dead instantly, two seconds later, he’s already off running Tom Cruise style to the next set piece, like the whole parasite thing never happened. 

Correct me if I’m wrong, Brock was infected by a deadly parasite like just a few minutes ago, wasn’t he? Shouldn’t Brock’s separation from Venom at least create a side effect for the former? If the separation doesn’t kill Brock, the least the movie can do is have him pass out or have his legs go limp to convince the audience how deadly this parasite is. It’s just mindboggling that the way Brock responds to being separated from a deadly parasite is equivalent to someone getting a common cold out. Apparently, the heart attack effect the Symbiote supposedly has on other people when he escaped doesn’t apply for Brock, with its effect on Brock here being as mild as a gentle stroke of a coin on one’s back. All it needs is one stroke, one burping motion and problem solved. 

In regards to the action sequences, it is disappointing that Ruben Fleischer, a man responsible for crafting some of the most creative zombie kills in the 21^st century with the post apocalyptic comedy Zombieland (2009), could craft something so uninspired for the superhero genre. Fleischer is obviously a talented director, and in terms of the way he filmed the action, Venom is visually a competently-made movie.  He seems to know how to seamlessly blend Venom’s CGI movement with the practical stunts so that they look in sync on the canvas. Still, it is hard to deny that every set piece in this movie is like any other set piece we’ve seen a million times before in many superhero movies, especially in the MCU movies. Unfortunately, in Venom’s case, it’s a pale imitation of the MCU.  

Yet, one of the worst decisions Fleischer made with Venom is by watering down the Venom/Symbiote kills through a PG-13 rating. It’s a rating that does the character a disservice. We’re talking about a character who likes to bite people’s heads off for sport. The streets should have run red with blood every time he walks. 

Fleischer mentioned once in an interview that he was inspired by Joker’s (Heath Ledger) pencil scene in The Dark Knight (2008) to make Venom a PG-13 rated movie. In The Dark Knight’s defense though, firstly, the pencil scene was presented in such an implicit way that it didn’t require the presence of blood at all. Secondly, that scene happened in such a lightning speed fashion, so fast that the explicit aspect of the violence was almost invisible to the naked eyes, hence warranting the PG-13 rating. 

Here, Fleischer explicitly shows the Symbiotes slicing and dicing through people. The camera even lingers for quite a long time at the sight of an innocent citizen skewered to one of the Symbiote’s blade-shaped hands. How can such a horrifying image be so clean and bloodless onscreen? 

In every scene where blood should have come out of the human’s body, they replace them with smoke. It basically makes all the Venom and Symbiote kills look unrealistic. Sure, the premise alone is already unrealistic to begin with, but in this case, what’s on display is so unrealistic that watching Venom and the Symbiote slicing and dicing through human beings look like they’re slicing and dicing through inflatable balloon people. 

No other Marvel movies arguably have as much award season caliber talents as Venom. It has the Oscar-nominated Tom Hardy, the Oscar-nominated/Golden Globe winner Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed, the star of the Oscar-nominated Nightcrawler (2014). Somehow, all of their performances here prove that they are aware which one is an Oscar film and which one is a popcorn movie. Seeing Venom as a “popcorn movie” enables them to just sleepwalk throughout the whole production. Everyone here gives minimum effort with their roles. 

If there is anyone who gives slightly more, it’s Tom Hardy, and even he’s a mixed bag. Hardy’s performance pretty much summarizes the best and worst aspect of Nicolas Cage’s acting style. Nicolas Cage has given some good subdued performances in the past, but a subdued Nicolas Cage is no fun. A subdued Tom Hardy makes for an awful Eddie Brock. Eddie Brock pre-Venom was such a bland, annoying presence, one who confuses incoherent mumbling for a New York accent. 

Like Cage, it is when Hardy is allowed to go all crazy where he is at his most entertaining, and at the same time, where he gives as close to a maximum effort. Along the way, he has discovered his hidden talent: physical comedy.  It’s a role that demands him to do wacky stunts and make wacky expressions, and he really disappears into the Brock/Venom character when he’s at his wackiest. 

Michelle Williams is left stranded in this movie. Renowned for being an indie darling, she does sometimes feature in big budget productions like Oz: the Great and Powerful (2013) and recently The Greatest Showman (2017). Sadly, in those movies, her talent was buried under the CGI and production design surrounding her, and that poor luck continues with Venom.  

She plays Anne Weying, an attorney/Eddie Brock’s girlfriend, who spends the entire movie trying to convince everyone that she is different from the “generic superhero girlfriend”. However, once you are given a terrible wig, a miniskirt and a one –note character to work with, then it’s hard to tell the difference. Her haphazardly placed wig reflects the little effort the actress put into her character.  

Riz Ahmed looks like he’s in a different movie than what he signed up for.  Ahmed stars in a movie about an alien parasite that eats people, and yet, he acts like he is in a heavy epidemic drama about the environment. 

He plays Carlton Drake, this larger-than-life, Elon Musk-esque space magnate, and safe to say, he should have had fun with this role. It’s the kind of character that needs to be the over-the-top, cat-stroking, pun-spewing type to emphasize his larger-than-life status. Somehow, he settles with being this self-serious figure who speaks in calm, methodical tone, or in other words, he’s just a guy with a soul as lifeless as a robot. 

Jenny Slate is also in this movie, supposedly as a comic relief.  Slate is given the character of scientist Dora Skirth, a role that denies her the chance to do what she’s good at: comedy. Dora is like her employer Drake, a flat, self-serious character who has very little to do with the story. Cut her off entirely from the movie, and it wouldn’t change a thing. 

CONCLUSION: 

Eddie Brock and Venom’s Jekyll and Hyde relationship is easily the most compelling aspect in Venom, an otherwise bombastic, lazy and uninspired attempt at a superhero origin story featuring Tom Hardy doing a hilarious New York accent and making Nicolas Cage-style expressions to emote anger. 

Score: 4/10