Directed by:
Ruben FleischerCinematography:
Matthew LibatiqueComposer:
Ludwig GöranssonCast:
Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Lee, Sope Aluko, Reid Scott, Scott Haze, Mac Brandt, Jane McNeill, Wayne Pére (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) becomes the host for the alien symbiote Venom. As a journalist, Eddie has been trying to take down the notorious founder of the Life Foundation, genius Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) – and that obsession ruined his career and his relationship with his girlfriend, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams). Upon investigating one of Drake’s experiments, the alien Venom merges with Eddie’s body, and he suddenly has incredible new superpowers, as well as the chance to do just about whatever he wants. Twisted, dark, unpredictable, and fueled by rage, Venom leaves Eddie wrestling to control dangerous abilities that he also finds empowering and intoxicating. As Eddie and Venom need each other to get what they’re looking for, they become more and more intertwined — where does Eddie end and Venom begin? (Sony Pictures)
(more)Videos (8)
Reviews (16)
Hardy looked like a village idiot on the poster, but the poor guy also had to act like one in the film. For the first half of the movie, Brock is just a regular asshole who gets what he deserves and only later gains Hardy’s pleasant nature, which is boosted by a symbiote. The main problem with this film is the screenplay, which is full of holes and lots of the material also got cut out! Lapses in logic, characters with strange motivations and only a few good lines. Luckily, Fleischer concentrated on Venom himself, who is really cool, even though he’s a lot different than in the comic book. Even his baffling heroic behavior doesn’t present any problem. The action is decent, though it's a bit hard to follow – everything blends into the darkness (it must be awful in 3D) – and there’s not enough of it. Michelle Williams’ acting is plain bad and the evil Indian as a twisted variation on Elon Musk doesn’t have any ground to stand on in his transformation. Harlson and his ugly hairstyle are just funny more than anything else. There are too few jokes about eating people. The post-credits scene is asking for a fist to the face. We are not amused; we are disappointed. I want to feed! BEWARE: THIS ISN’T A MARVEL MOVIE, just a character bought from Marvel (and I hope that Sony gives it back soon).
()
Following on from conflicting mixed reviews, I didn’t expect much, and in the end, Venom is just sort of OK – which slightly irritates me because this film could have been much better. This is due in part to the limits of a PG-13 certificate, so scenes intended to be gory are either cut so that you can’t see the gore, or made in a ridiculous way of not showing blood (for example, a symbiote turns its limbs into sharp blades, but does not slice up their opponents; instead he throws them on the side). The plot is nothing new – it’s a relatively engaging origin story with, unfortunately, a completely generic and uninteresting villain played by Riz Ahmed. At times, the logic is lost, like when Venom tells Eddie that he was in his head and knows everything about him, but then five minutes later he asks who Anne is. Paradoxically, the film works best as a comedy with Tom Hardy humorously muttering and fooling around, which is a fail if Venom is intended as a darker film – because it isn’t.
()
Sometimes I'm happy to be wrong. And I haven't been so wrong for a long time as when I was proclaiming that Tom Hardy, with his certain type of grim expression, could in no way be a suitable Eddie Brock. But he is not only good in the role of a talkative stubborn person, he is excellent. When combined with the thankfully presented second voice in his head, the comedic potential of the resulting situations, and the imaginative action scenes, Venom is a surprisingly enjoyable bit of entertainment. I would obligatorily send the authors of reviews that qualitatively equate the efforts of the Sony stable with the level of such bombs from the beginning of the century as Elektra or The Punisher to go fetch the DVDs of the aforementioned films and refresh their memory.
()
One of Marvel's most interesting characters finally made it to the silver screen, but it deserved a better story, a little better execution, and overall better care. Such an entertaining, strong and hard-nosed antihero could have been handled much better than waiting a third of the film, getting to know him a third and then lurking in front of a green screen for a while. Hardy does a decent job in the role of a weird journalist, but his digital counterpart is considerably worse. Boring. 20 minutes in, and you know how it's going to end, and of course there's going to be a final battle, because you usually can't do without that in comic book adaptations these days. So predictable.
()
Everything good about this movie is actually thanks to Tom Hardy. This Marvel movie would have ended up in the abyss of history without Tom Hardy and nobody would have ever remembered it. In this way, however, it’s a decent introduction of a new character of the Marvel universe, but it pays brutally for the naïve screenplay. While I accepted the fact that Venom is actually a distant cousin of the Goa'ulds from Stargate SG-1, I really struggled with accepting the simplicity of the screenplay, according to which the tired and disappointed Tom Hardy meets with his buddy Venom. Riz Ahmed isn’t a completely dignified adversary for Venom either; he’s rather an easy ticket into our world, which he surprisingly grew to like. Being a crazy scientist is quite a popular topic which doesn’t get old easily. What could get old are the typical tropes Marvel is already full of. Thankfully, Venom is strong because of Tom Hardy and even Venom himself understood that. And at least because of that I have a reason to look forward to the next installment.
()
Ads