Venom
Year: 2018
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Tom Hardy & Michelle Williams
Runtime: 112 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 08/12/23
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Tom Hardy & Michelle Williams
Runtime: 112 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 08/12/23
Sony’s had this weird kind of obsession with the character of Venom for a very long time. They forced Spider-Man 3 director Sam Raimi to include the character in the film, and subsequently it made the film too crowded, it was a poor representation of what the character was, and that choice was responsible for the franchise ending.
But once Sony were rebooting Spider-Man with 2011’s Amazing Spider-Man, getting Venom in that franchise was high on their list of priorities. So much so that he was going to get his own film to introduce the character before being expanded further in Spider-Man sequels and an eventual Sinister Six film. Following the release of Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the decision to cancel that franchise and instead share Spider-Man with Marvel & Disney, the plans for Venom got thrown into disarray. But the plans for the Sinister Six film could still go ahead, so Sony planned to use their favourite anti-hero as the launchpad for their franchise revolving around Spider-Man’s nemesis’. As you can tell, it didn’t have the smoothest start, and the result isn’t exactly as good as you’d expect from a modern superhero film. But Venom does also manage to do a decent number of things well enough for it to have gained a fan following.
When investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) pursues a story about tech billionaire Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) and his questionable ethics, he is discredited and loses everything he loves. A year later and Eddie is approached by an employee of Drake’s informing him that homeless people are being used as lab rats in an experiment with extra terrestrial lifeforms. But when one of these parasitic lifeforms attaches itself to Eddie, he must learn the true intentions of this symbiote that refers to itself as Venom and stop Drake from continuing to experiment with these dangerous lifeforms.
Venom’s story is kind of all over the place because it severely lacks focus. The opening introduces the symbiotes and Carlton Drake, and then we get introduced to Eddie at the top of his game as a highly respected and ruthless journalist. Once he loses his job, his fiancée, and his home, Eddie’s life spirals out of control. The film then tries to balance this story about Venom and the other symbiotes alongside Eddie trying to win his former girlfriend, Anne (Michelle Williams) back.
It's not the smoothest of things and honestly I think the whole Anne story should have been left for the sequel because whilst Venom’s plot isn’t exactly complicated, it seems weird for Eddie as a person to be so fixated on trying to win his ex-girlfriend back whilst simultaneously learning to live with a deadly alien parasite and also take on one of the worlds biggest tech moguls. It’s just conflicted is all.
But once Sony were rebooting Spider-Man with 2011’s Amazing Spider-Man, getting Venom in that franchise was high on their list of priorities. So much so that he was going to get his own film to introduce the character before being expanded further in Spider-Man sequels and an eventual Sinister Six film. Following the release of Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the decision to cancel that franchise and instead share Spider-Man with Marvel & Disney, the plans for Venom got thrown into disarray. But the plans for the Sinister Six film could still go ahead, so Sony planned to use their favourite anti-hero as the launchpad for their franchise revolving around Spider-Man’s nemesis’. As you can tell, it didn’t have the smoothest start, and the result isn’t exactly as good as you’d expect from a modern superhero film. But Venom does also manage to do a decent number of things well enough for it to have gained a fan following.
When investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) pursues a story about tech billionaire Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) and his questionable ethics, he is discredited and loses everything he loves. A year later and Eddie is approached by an employee of Drake’s informing him that homeless people are being used as lab rats in an experiment with extra terrestrial lifeforms. But when one of these parasitic lifeforms attaches itself to Eddie, he must learn the true intentions of this symbiote that refers to itself as Venom and stop Drake from continuing to experiment with these dangerous lifeforms.
Venom’s story is kind of all over the place because it severely lacks focus. The opening introduces the symbiotes and Carlton Drake, and then we get introduced to Eddie at the top of his game as a highly respected and ruthless journalist. Once he loses his job, his fiancée, and his home, Eddie’s life spirals out of control. The film then tries to balance this story about Venom and the other symbiotes alongside Eddie trying to win his former girlfriend, Anne (Michelle Williams) back.
It's not the smoothest of things and honestly I think the whole Anne story should have been left for the sequel because whilst Venom’s plot isn’t exactly complicated, it seems weird for Eddie as a person to be so fixated on trying to win his ex-girlfriend back whilst simultaneously learning to live with a deadly alien parasite and also take on one of the worlds biggest tech moguls. It’s just conflicted is all.
Hardy owns his performance of Eddie and he’s much closer to the comic book version of the character that Topher Grace’s Spider-Man 3 incarnation. He’s a bit of a jackass but his heart is usually in the right place, crucially he’s a flawed human being who wants to do the right thing but often lets his ego get in the way. He’s funny, he’s a little scary, but crucially he’s relatable. This perfectly fits the anti-hero mould of Venom, he looks out for what he believes to be good people, but he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and spill a little blood in the name of it.
There’s a fair amount of action in Venom’s two-hour runtime and there was a lot of people hoping that Sony would follow in Fox’s footsteps with Deadpool & Logan and go for a mature rated film. However, Sony did hold back somewhat for the sake of the US market and cut around enough of the more graphic violence to gain a PG-13 rating. This didn’t matter in international markets though where the increased severity and threat of the violence was enough to garner mature ratings, such as the BBFC’s 15 certificate. The problem with this is that you’re watching a mature rated film that doesn’t really show any more violence than an Avengers film, but because it’s more sinister in tone it’s not exactly teen friendly. Had Sony committed to the darker tone and more violent content then I think the film would have been better for it.
I think Venom would have gone down better in its current form if it had released around the same time as Amazing Spider-Man 2. But what with the length of time that passed between those two projects and the significant rise of the MCU in that time Venom feels dated by comparison. Had it also committed to the mature content more then I feel like it would have stood out a bit more and justified its existence better.
As it stands, Venom is little more than an ok anti-hero film. The story is stretched a bit thin, and Hardy is really the only performer of any significant merit. It’s good enough to warrant a watch for Marvel fans, but I wouldn’t seek it out if you’re a casual enjoyer of superhero content.
There’s a fair amount of action in Venom’s two-hour runtime and there was a lot of people hoping that Sony would follow in Fox’s footsteps with Deadpool & Logan and go for a mature rated film. However, Sony did hold back somewhat for the sake of the US market and cut around enough of the more graphic violence to gain a PG-13 rating. This didn’t matter in international markets though where the increased severity and threat of the violence was enough to garner mature ratings, such as the BBFC’s 15 certificate. The problem with this is that you’re watching a mature rated film that doesn’t really show any more violence than an Avengers film, but because it’s more sinister in tone it’s not exactly teen friendly. Had Sony committed to the darker tone and more violent content then I think the film would have been better for it.
I think Venom would have gone down better in its current form if it had released around the same time as Amazing Spider-Man 2. But what with the length of time that passed between those two projects and the significant rise of the MCU in that time Venom feels dated by comparison. Had it also committed to the mature content more then I feel like it would have stood out a bit more and justified its existence better.
As it stands, Venom is little more than an ok anti-hero film. The story is stretched a bit thin, and Hardy is really the only performer of any significant merit. It’s good enough to warrant a watch for Marvel fans, but I wouldn’t seek it out if you’re a casual enjoyer of superhero content.