Venom

Dir: Ruben Fleischer

2018

***

In many respects Venom had a battle on his hands before a second of footage was shot. We live in an age of brand loyalty and certain companies have taken on a team persona. DC fans won’t cross over to Marvel and vice-versa. Okay, so maybe it isn’t quite as extreme as that across the board but fans are reluctant to get behind Sony’s Marvel films because they are seen as the party-poopers who won’t let their kids play with the other kids in the school play ground. It is far more complicated than that of course, money is money and Sony has paid (and lost) a lot of money for the rights to Spider-Man and his many foe, and with most clauses, if they don’t use it – they lose it. The failure of their Spider-Man re-boot pretty much ruined the future of their Marvel run – their long planned Sinister Six movie was shelved and their not-so Amazing Spider-Man was loaned out to Marvel Studios who send both Spidey and Sony back to school. They had to do something with what they had and Venom was the most obvious. Thing is, he’s a fan favorite. I’m a big fan of Spider-Man but I’ve always thought his enemies were far more interesting than him and that of any other superhero (with Batman coming a close second). Venom is probably the only character who could have his own stand alone film but at the end of the day - and following the amazing Avengers movies – people don’t want stand-alone anymore, they want team-ups. At this point, if it isn’t part of the MCU then people are less enthusiastic about it, Marvel Studios have set the bar high (just ask the people at DC). Also, they want to see him fight Spider-Man – properly this time, so that we can at least begin to forget that Spider-Man 3 never happened. So Venom was already fighting a loosing battle with many, but after the day of its release it seems absolutely nobody liked it. In fact, everyone seems to loath it. Well, except for me. I’m a comic nerd for sure but Venom was one character who actually past me by so I had no high expectations. In fact, I had no expectations, I went into the film open minded, unaware whether it was an authentic adaption of the comics and characters. The editing was messy, I didn’t love Tom Hardy’s performance and the last fifteen minutes are some of the most nauseating I’ve ever had to sit through. Apart from that it was pure popcorn-munching dumb fun. People have said that it was ‘Catwoman level bad’ but I disagree, although it did feel like the sort of sub-standard superhero movie that was churned out in the late 90s/early 00s. Maybe I felt nostalgic or something but I didn’t instantly hate it. It is probably on par with the Fantastic Four re-boot, that wasn’t a great film either but I certainly didn’t hate it and I finished my large tub of popcorn well before the end. So it has issues – I don’t think Ruben Fleischer was the right choice of director and thus far I seem to be the only person unimpressed by most of his films. He has cited filmmakers John Carpenter and David Cronenberg as an influence on the film, as well as the horror comedy films An American Werewolf in London and Ghostbusters. If that is true then I’m afraid it is mission failure. I don’t think Tom Hardy played the character correctly, while I think he was probably right for the part (and voicing Venom) I don’t think his decision to base his performance as Eddie Brock/Venom on three actors: Woody Allen ("the tortured neurosis and all the humor that can come from that"), martial artist fighter Conor McGregor ("the taste and capability for uber-violence"), and Redman ("out of control, living rent-free in his head.") was his greatest moment. He also cited The Ren & Stimpy Show as an influence on the relationship between Eddie Brock and Venom while also stating Venom to be the coolest Marvel hero because "he has a brazen swagger and a zero foxtrot attitude." The story is a little too basic and while I admire it’s simplicity, it felt like it was limited with only three or so chapters. I’m not sure City Hall would allow a rocket launch right next to the Golden Gate bridge either. The script needed work, the editing needed a lot of work, we could have done with a little more character development and the action sequences needed to be refined. I have never before been so bored watching a car chase. All that said, there were actually a few things I really liked about it. I quite liked Venom and if Eddie had been as charismatic then it could have been something uniquely special but I did feel like he resembled a Todd McFarlane character. I don’t know Venom but I know McFarlane and his style was instantly recognizable. I loved the casting of Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed. Both actors are above this sort of film but I like that superhero movies are casting great actors who aren’t either young boob-job bimbos or muscle-headed morons or sniveling evil geniuses. Williams and Ahmed are actually two of my favorite actors so to see them together is something of a treat – even if both talents are somewhat wasted. I also like why Hardy took the part. His son Louis Thomas Hardy is a big fan of Venom, and Hardy took the role to please him: "I wanted to do something my son could watch” Louis guided his father on how to appropriately portray Brock/Venom, since Hardy didn't know the character very well. Isn’t that lovely? In all honesty, for a film that has been in the pipe-line for so many years, it’s not as bad as you might expect. If you compare it to Captain America:Civil War or Avengers: Infinity Wars then it is a piece of crap, but if you rate it on its own merit then it is fine, not great, but generally easy to watch. Apart from the last action scene, which is almost impossible to watch, as clever as the special effects are. I’m not sure about the future of Venom as from what I can tell the other alien symbiotes are pretty much exactly the same as Venom, just a different colour. Not sure how they can make that interesting or indeed if anyone is likely to pay for it but all in all, it isn’t as bad as everyone says but it certainly isn’t Marvel-ous.