Venom Review

"Eyes! Lungs! Pancreas! So many snacks, so little time!"


Venom was directed by Ruben Fleischer, and is the first film as part of Sonys Spider-Man villain spin off universe (current without the hero himself!). Venom stars the likes of Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate and Scott Haze. The film follows Eddie Brock portrayed by Tom Hardy, who acquires the powers of the symbiote, and has to release his alter ago Venom to help save his own life and the world.

Let's get straight to the point, Venom is a film without Spider-Man, now does this work without the famous web slinging hero?... yes it does, but it could of been so much better with the hero appearing himself or even a tease or a mention here or there, but as a standalone film about Venom himself it still works and the end result is fairly effective with faults. One of the strongest aspects of Venom without a doubt is the relationship between Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom. The two beings have to co-exist within each other during the film, which leads to not only some great action set pieces during the film, but also some good character building and at time some good comedic moments that are a joy to watch. This is not the case throughout the entire film, due to the films clashing tones and pacing issues (we will get onto that later!) but when the film gets those moments right they really do shine through the rest of the film. Tom Hardy gives a good performance as Eddie Brock and looks like he is having fun playing both Brock and Venom and really holds the film together, whilst supporting characters are fine an give solid performances, but they don't do anything to really outshine Hardy and really fall into the category of forgettable side characters (they really do unfortunately!). One big mention as to be to the design of Venom himself and the CGI as Venom truly looks great on the big screen and is the most accurate iteration of the character compared to his last appearance in Tobey Maguires Spider-Man 3 way back in 2007.

Whilst Venom is certainly a fun film at times, unfortunately it is nowhere near a perfect film. One of my biggest issues of the film was without a doubt the tonal clashes and the overall pace of the film. The film at times really has a strong horror influence, and in those sequences the film really shines, setting up the horrific symbiotes, but then the horror tone clashed with comedic moments (especially with Brock and Venom) and at times is a bit messy. Whilst you can definitely have comedy in a horror film, this film just feels like two hugely different styles clashing together which leads to a messy tone for the film. Also in terms of pace, the first act of the film explores Eddie Brocks character and back story, but seems to be rushed through and jumps around a lot, but even though it is rushed over (to obviously get to Venom) the first act just really seems dragged out until we finally get to Venom, it is as if the filmmakers had a lot of story and set up to include in the first act, that they tried to condense everything to make sure it fitted in, but resulted in the first act dragging and made me lose interest at times. The films villain Carlton Drake/Riot (another symbiote) had a lot of potential, especially seeing new symbiote characters on the big screen, but his potential was wasted, and while we do get a cool but way too fast paced action set piece during the final act of the film, the villain himself was a massive let down, and his human half Carlton Drake (portrayed by Riz Ahmed) just falls into the category of generic bad guy with no real motivations apart from his own personal gain.

Overall Venom is a at times a fun film with some good moments of action and comedy, but is overall let down by a messy tone, structural problems and a generic villain. If you are a fan of the character then there is a lot to take away from the film in terms of Venom himself, but don't set your expectations to high.

Verdict: 3 out 5 stars