REVIEW: “Venom”: Worst Marvel Film to Date?

Let’s get straight to the point. “Venom” IS NOT GOOD. The film suffers tremendously with cliche dialogue, cliched characters and a confusing and confounding narrative ark. If you happen to be a comic book and superhero film fan, much like I am, this film is the ultimate insult. It reduces the titular symbiotie down to an oozing Cookie Monster-esque demon with a hunger for brains.

It takes what is supposed to be a dark and brooding character and turns him into a joke. Much more reminiscent of a zombified and disembodied Deadpool than a menacing adversary. The film also takes far too long for us to catch a glimpse of our black behemoth. Instead, we focus on the life of host Eddie Brock. Now, this in and of itself is not bad. In fact, Tom Hardy is defiantly one of the best things about the film. You can tell that he is genuinely invested in his role and is able to play it very well. It is a massive shame then that every single line of dialogue that the characters speak seem cliched and unprofound.

Going back to the “Deadpool” comparison, Tom Hardy’s version of Eddie Brock has more in common with Wade Wilson than his actual comic book counterpart. The only real difference is that the savagery is split in two between Venom/Brock and is much, much more awkward and disjointed because of it. This movie had every right to be the dark and gritty masterpiece it deserved to be.

In fact, for the first couple minutes, it seems that’s what you’re going to get. Then, the script kicks in, the dialogue begins and the movie falls apart at the seams. Everything about the concept, except for a twist that doesn’t really add much besides a final boss for our intertwined protagonists, seems like it could have been done better.

The writing of this film is what ruins the illusion for me. Pacing issues, plot holes and just an otherwise lack of originality stems from the fact that the writers did not do their research into what makes Venom such an incredible and dynamic character in the first place. Instead, they gave us an uninteresting mess of action movie stereotypes wrapped in a sticky, black shell.

The acting is not the problem. Most of the actors play their roles and play them beautifully. The effects are not too bad, either. I do not quite like the film’s reliance on CGI, but it worked well enough. I am honestly tempted to call this the worst Marvel film to date, but I think that would be slightly unfair of me to do, so, since I can see the massive potential and energy that this film had.

So, I will simply advise you to avoid “Venom” as if it is exactly as the name implies, a poison that drains you of enjoyment.

FINAL GRADE: D+