Venom (2018) - SPOILER-FREE Review
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Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Written by: Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, Kelly Marcel
Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott
Runtime: 112 min
Synopsis: Journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is trying to take down Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), 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.
Unfortunately, in today's world, a film isn't good or bad because it's truly good or bad. There must be an excuse for each of these cases, especially if we're discussing a big franchise-related flick. Being Venom a superhero movie, obviously, there's no "middle ground". Either you love it or hate it. Usually, if you think it's just "okay," you're the anomaly. This time that didn't bother me as much as the next thing...
Since every fanboy must defend their favorite studio, the reasons for Venom's poor reviews were apparently due to Lady Gaga fans blindly trashing this film since A Star Is Born also premieres this week. It's not even a DC x Marvel dispute! Fans' reluctance in accepting that a movie from their favorite cinematic universe can be disappointing reaches unbelievable levels. Even more when it is, in fact, a complete boredom of a story, with a generic plot, paper-thin characters who only serve as plot devices, and extremely terrible editing (Maryann Brandon, Alan Baumgarten).
There is some good stuff to write about, so I'll start with the absolute standout: Tom Hardy (Dunkirk). When you have such a remarkable actor saying "they cut off my favorite scenes", you can't possibly have high expectations for the respective film. Hardy fantastically incorporates the character of Eddie Brock, delivering tons of scenes where the actor simply shines. His versatile ability to interpret such an expressive character makes Hardy himself the best thing about Venom. The interactions between Eddie and the symbiote are the most fascinating aspect of the movie. From the funny banter to the unusual method of character development, their relationship is, by far, the strongest in the entire film, which ends up becoming a negative point as well.
Unfortunately, the screenplay written by Jeff Pinkner (The Dark Tower), Scott Rosenberg (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), and Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey) is packed with numerous useless subplots and secondary characters who don't add anything to the main narrative or the protagonist's arc. The first half of the movie has no Venom whatsoever, which wouldn't be an issue if the story and characters were compelling. While Eddie has indeed an engaging personality, literally every other character in the film is either a cliche stereotype or an on-the-nose plot device.
Michelle Williams (The Greatest Showman) blandly portrays Eddie's lover Anne, someone I don't even have words to describe based on her development. Riz Ahmed (Rogue One), an actor I adore, tries his best as Carlton Drake, a forgettable villain who holds the generic villain hunger for power. Finally, there are a bunch of scientists who only serve as exposition devices to explicitly explain to the audience everything that's happening. Dealing with these characters becomes astonishingly dull and tiresome. Most of the comedic scenes don't really work without Venom's voice to provide a different take on them, so Hardy finds himself carrying the whole thing by himself.
However, the worst aspect of the movie is undoubtedly the editing. It doesn't matter if it's an action scene or a simple dialogue in a diner, the editing is a total mess. Exceptionally frustrating, to be honest. Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) is a talented filmmaker, but I can't defend cutting a simple dialogue on every single line while weirdly switching the positions of each actor. Despite a couple of riveting action sequences, the vast majority is filled with quick cuts and blurred camera movement due to an abusive employment of shaky-cam (Matthew Libatique). The final battle is extraordinarily underwhelming since it's impossible to understand most of what's happening. When an occasional fight between Venom and some random bad guys is better than the supposed climax of the film, you know something's not right.
The PG-13 rating clearly affected the movie. Some scenes were cut because there was no way of toning them down, and the lack of blood or heavy language is definitely a setback. The score is actually pretty great (Ludwig Göransson), and it helps revitalize some slow moments. Tonally, the film is well-balanced overall, even if Fleischer irregularly loses control here and there. I don't consider it one of the worst movies of the year, but I won't ever feel the need for a rewatch unless a sequel is made.
Final Thoughts
Venom is yet another missed opportunity to deliver a great movie about the symbiote anti-hero. This time, the character of Eddie Brock is beautifully handled, with Tom Hardy offering an impressive performance. The actor carries the entire film, which finds its entertainment peak in the interactions between Eddie and Venom. Unfortunately, the movie is drastically brought down by a generic narrative with an incredibly dull first half, an unnecessary focus on uninteresting subplots, and a disappointing amount of paper-thin characters. The shockingly terrible editing basically ruins any sort of excitement that could be found during the action sequences. The production issues condemned this film to be a letdown. Let's just hope the next one isn't worse.
