Venom (2018)

I already had lukewarm feelings about Venom so when critics flooded us with negative reviews, I decided to pass the movie and save some money. Then, many people I follow —either on Twitter or blogs— started posting their review and it didn't sound that terrible. At that point though, I didn't want to go to the cinemas and watch the dubbed version so I waited for home release. 

The film follows Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), a news reporter who has just lost his job and girlfriend (Michelle Williams) because he went off-script while interviewing Carlon Drake (Riz Ahmed), the CEO of a bio-engineering corporation, the Life Foundation. When he tries to dig some dirt up on Drake, he becomes the host of a powerful, symbiotic alien, Venom, that gives him superhuman abilities. Venom and his species, however, do not come in peace.

There's nothing special about the story as it is a very simple one that features many clichés —the loser who becomes a (anti)hero, the alien parasite symbiote, the sappy romantic subplot— and it's as predictable as a comic book film can get and therefore the twists aren't a bit effective. And yet, despite all the flaws, it is a quite compelling and entertaining origin story.

Having Eddie Brock as lead character does help too. While he could have used more development and depth, he is a very likeable character as well as easily the most relatable comic book character portrayed in a movie so far as he is an everyday guy who screws up —just like every one of us— and wants to redeem himself. As for Venom, he makes for a wonderful, evil sidekick. And Tom Hardy does a very nice job playing both. He always plays these serioues and intimidating characters so it was refreshing seeing him play someone/something different this time around. Although he is not very believable in the role of a loser —just take a look at the man, will ya—, he gives such a funny and entertaining performance as Eddie/Venom. Also, the interactions between Eddie and Venom are hilarious —easily my favourite part.

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Unfortunately, Hardy and his characters are the only ones that make you have a good time. The supporting characters are terrible as they are dull and not a tiny bit interesting —why waste Michelle Williams like that?— and the villain, Drake/Riot is generic at best, not menacing at all, and Riz Ahmed's performance is pathetic to say the least.

As for the visual aspect, while the cinematography doesn't always make sense, the special effects are pretty good —I liked how the transformation was handled, and Venom looks pretty good. The action sequences range from mediocre to tense and entertaining. At last, the comedy. It doesn't always work and it often feels as if the filmmakers wanted to do what Deadpool did but didn't have the guts to go all the way. And it's pretty frustrating. Overall, though Venom is not as bad as I thought it'd be.