Branching off from usual encounters with Spider-Man, the new film “Venom” shows the character can last on his own the big screen. Despite poor reviews, “Venom” may be one of the best superhero movies to hit the big screen this year.
Prior to its premiere, Rotten Tomatoes critics gave “Venom” 32%, the worst of any of the Marvel Studios movies since “Fantastic Four” in 2015. Reviewers said that the story was confusing and “Venom” was not accurate to its comic book origins.
Despite these poor reviews, the audiences who filled the seats loved it, averaging a score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. The best Marvel movie ever, according to critics, “Black Panther”, earned an audience score of 79%. The fans gave “Venom” a better rating by 9%.
Now, for my personal opinion? I have seen every superhero movie to be released the past three years, which includes blockbusters such as “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” None of those movies even come close to “Venom”, in my eyes.
This all starts with the casting by John Papsidera. Although Tom Hardy does not have the common muscular Eddie Brock-build from the comics, he makes up for it with his coldness and the overall portrayal of his character.
Even characters such a Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) and Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) are portrayed well. Williams’ acting is phenomenal throughout the film and looks and feels comic accurate. Drake, on the other hand, does not look as comic-accurate as fans would have preferred, but his phenomenal acting makes up for it.
Now, for Venom, the Symbiote: an alien lifeform in Marvel Comics that bonds with a host body and allows the human to take alien form as well as superhuman strength and speed. The last time the character was seen on the big screen was in “Spider-Man 3”, in 2007, and for the character, “Venom” was big upgrade.
Back in 2007, Venom was played by Topher Grace. The character, when he turned into Venom, looked identical to Spider-Man in a black suit with a serious dental issue. In this film, he is a huge monster with rows of teeth and a tongue that never seems to end.
Overall, the plot of the story was great. There was only one major plot hole, and that was of the antagonist of Venom, Riot. Riot was jumping from person to person, starting in a third-world country to try to get to the U.S., looking for his desired host, Drake.
During that time, there is a six month gap in the film to show the downfall of Eddie Brock. In that time, Riot made absolutely no progress, leading the audience to wonder what he was doing that whole time.
They needed a gap to show the downfall of Eddie and the consequences of his interview with Drake, but the audience is correct on this one. Six months is a long time for an alien with superhuman speed to travel to an airport.
They could have just said something such as one month later. He was homeless, could not find a job, and lost pretty much everything. A downfall in one month and a downfall in six months isn’t that far apart, so the studio did mess up on this one.
Another controversial point was CGI. Most critics point out the fight between Riot and Venom at the end of the film, which they believed was weak, especially when the characters were trying to rip the Symbiote off one another.
Now while this is true, you can also say this: it was a pilot film. The CGI in the other studios pilot films were just as bad, if not worst. Everyone gave those studios another chance, so do the same here. The film is turning a profit, meaning the CGI will probably be much better in the next film.
One thing from the film that was a good idea was turning Venom into a hero. All Symbiotes were villians in the comics, so making one a hero is a nice twist, especially given the fact the studio does not hold the rights to Spider-Man at the moment.
Now, Venom did not eat a lot of people in film, which the audience was not expecting. However, the movie was PG-13, so they were restricted as to what they could do in terms of violence and blood. All things considered, Venom was pretty violent for a PG-13 character.
The last part of the movie that is enjoyable is the complicated relationship between Eddie and Venom, and how it develops throughout the film.
How would you feel if an alien was living in your body? When Venom bonds with Eddie, they both hate each other. It was a strain, both wanting control, neither truly having feelings about one another. Eddie first realises Venom is inside of him in a battle.
However, as the film progresses, both realize the advantages of having one another. Eddie now has abilities unlike any other human in this universe, and Venom was by far the strongest being on the planet.
Also, the relationship became one of a friendship. Eddie and Venom often talked about the issues in Eddie’s life, and Venom had good advice for Eddie most of the time. All in all, the portal between the two is the best part in the movie.
This movie marked a turning point in the Sony-Marvel Cinematic Universe. Everyone thought that this movie was going to be a bust. However, after the release, all anyone can think about is when the next movie might be coming out.