Director: Ruben Fleischer
Runtime: 1h 52m
Release Date: October 5th, 2018
Stars: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed
Rated: PG-13
Synopsis: When Eddie Brock acquires the powers of a symbiote, he will have to release his alter-ego "Venom" to save his life.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
"Parasite?"
"Yeah. It's a term of endearment, that's all."
Eddie Brock is having a bad year. He's lost his job, his fiancee, and now it seems like he's going to lose his apartment. But when he becomes infested with an alien parasite that calls himself "Venom," those might just be the least of his problems.
Is Venom the best picture of the year? Nope. Was it a fun time? Sure!
There's a lot of criticism surrounding this movie, and now, having seen the film, I understand a lot of it. This film is not perfect, but a 28% on Rotten Tomatoes? It deserves to at least be 50. Flawed does not mean bad, especially in the case of Venom.
Superhero movies are a bit of a weird phenomenon. I enjoy them immensely as a whole (as do most moviegoers), but they are rarely as good or bad as any critic proclaims. Most of them (and this does not make for entertaining reviews) span the range of mediocre. For the overwhelming majority of superhero movies, they are simply fine. Some are absolute trash, a few are gems that may just make you feel something, but most are action romps that will pleasantly waste your afternoon for you. Venom is the newest addition to this collection, and even if for many it does fall on the lower end, it is throughly fun and fine.
At the very least, it is certainly better than Thor (really Rotten Tomatoes? A certified fresh at 77%? And Venom gets a 28%? I'm not bitter. I'm trying very hard not to be bitter...).
There are holes in the plot and script, I will admit. I had a bit of time swallowing the lack of consequences for literally anyone involved, but this movie isn't meant to be a sober look at the repercussions of intergalactic invasion and human experimentation. Sometimes you just got to review a movie as what it aims to be: in this case, a fun superhero antihero story with plenty of action. I think any flaws in the script are easily forgiven, and not that bad.
There were a few moments of bad CGI that I noticed which totally took me out of their respective scenes, but on the whole the effects were well-done enough to be convincing, especially when the fight scenes moved quickly.
Speaking of fight scenes, they were fun! Seeing Venom up against a group of humans, just utterly decimating them, is fun! Seeing Eddie scared and confused at his newfound abilities is fun.
And I'll be honest, Eddie Brock's character won me over! I liked how he struggled with real, human struggles, and wasn't able to fix them all by the end of the movie. Sure, there's the whole "end of the world" problem, but that's only one of Eddie Brock's many, many problems. He reminds me of the Spiderman comics' Peter Parker (not much of a surprise, given that Venom is a classic Spiderman villain) in the sense that they're both successful journalists and powerful superheroes that, regardless of whether or not they can save the world, have to worry about making rent at the end of the day. And while Tom Holland's Spiderman is off fighting Thanos and saving the Universe, Eddie's got his refreshingly small Earth to save.
I kind of hope there isn't a sequel to this movie. In a world of cinematic extended universes, I didn't realize just how starved I was for stand-alone adventures. It brings back the stakes. It's something to cleanse the pallet after "Infinity War."
I know this review has been defensive, like I'm trying to defend my enjoyment, and I apologize, but honestly: Just let me have my fun superhero movie!
- Claire
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