In Review: Venom

Synopsis: Journalist Eddie Brock is trying to take down Carlton Drake, the notorious and brilliant founder of the Life Foundation. While investigating one of Drake’s experiments, Eddie’s body merges with the alien Venom — leaving him with superhuman strength and power. Twisted, dark and fueled by rage, Venom tries to control the new and dangerous abilities that Eddie finds so intoxicating.

Review: I missed Venom when it was released in Cinema. So with it now being available via streaming services. I figured I’d take a chance and check it on on Amazon Video.

Obviously, I was aware that movie critics hated on this film Big Time, but I generally ignore what critics have to say and make my own mind up. Which believe it or not has always been my policy.

The Story

The film begins as The Life Foundation’s rocket crashes while carrying a bunch of Symbiotic life forms. One escapes and takes on several hosts as it tries to reconnect with the others.

In the City Ace reporter Eddie Brock is chilling out with his girlfriend and as he gets to work he is assigned a plum interview with Life Foundations founder and lead scientist Carlton Drake. Eddie reluctantly takes the assignment, but obviously has no intention of playing by Drake’s exacting rules. To that end, he uses his girlfriend’s connection to Drake by viewing private documents on her computer in order to dig up some dirt.  Eddies plans backfire when after confronting Drake with various questions. He is fired from his job and loses his girlfriend.

Six months go by and Eddie has seemingly pretty much given up on life and is just bumming around trying to find some form of employment so he can pay off bills. Things change when he is approached from one of the scientists from the Life Foundation who tells him that his instincts were correct about Drake. To help him out she gets him access to the complex so he can take pictures and pretty much gather evidence. While doing this Eddie comes across a homeless lady that he knows and frees her from a cubical. She attacks him and during the struggle, the Venom Symbiont leaves her body and enters Eddie.

It is from this point on that all the fun begins as much destruction happens while Eddie and Venom get to know each other.

Overall

Venom is a character that was first introduced to Marvel’s Spider-Man comics during the ’80s and has long had an association with Spidy, but this film sort of disregards that in order to give us a stand-alone origin for Venom, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

From the little, I do know about the comics. Venom and Spidey kind of parted ways years ago and the Venom character as a whole has evolved into somewhat of an anti-hero as opposed to being the stand out villain that he started life as in the Spiderverse, and that is what this movie capitalizes on.

The movie spends quite a bit of time letting us get to know Eddie Brock before we meet Venom, which is kind of a good thing because it allows us to get a sense of why Venom attaches to Eddie because the two are quite similar in many ways.

Tom Hardy is fantastic as Eddie and some of the dialogue between Eddie and Venom is really, really funny. Either that or I just have a sick and twisted sense of humor, which actually. Yes. I do.

Riz Ahmed is pretty good as Carlton Drake and makes for a believable scientist that has delusions of grandeur, but on a massive scale to the point where humanity kind of goes out the window, which is why it makes sense that Riot attaches to him.

Riot is the Symbiont that escapes at the beginning of the movie and by time he gets to Carlton he has gone through three of four different human hosts.

The CGI in this film, as well as other effects work, is fantastic. I loved the scenes where Venom first hooks up with Eddie and we get that impressive motorbike chase that ensues with Venom doing his stuff. But the best work is toward the close of the movie when Venom and Riot battle each other.

Overall. I suggest those that didn’t see this at the Cinema because they took notice of the critics to just ignore the bad reviews and judge for themselves. Venom is a fairly entertaining ride.

I found Venom to be a pretty enjoyable movie. My only issue is that we didn’t get to spend enough time with both Venom and Eddie hashing out their relationship. Hopefully, that issue gets fixed with a sequel.

For those hoping for Venom to meet Spidey. I wouldn’t rule that out. Anything is possible. But if that were ever to happen. I’d hope that it would be Venom and Spidey fighting side by side as opposed to each other.