--Riot, Venom
Venom is a very mixed offering--some elements are splendid, some are mediocre, and some are awful. The quality depends on the scene. It is clear that the movie suffers from being consigned to a PG-13 status, as a more consistently serious, hyperviolent storytelling style would have been much more fitting for the subject matter. Even with this being the case, not everything in Venom is atrocious. There are genuinely good aspects--the action, the symbiote animation, and a brief appearance of She-Venom--but they exist within a tonally confused narrative. Those who will go see the movie need to be warned that the first credits scene is glorious, so viewers should definitely watch it before walking out. It is a travesty that the majority of the movie isn't as incredible.
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Production Values
The effects and action easily overshadow the script. Some of the action sequences are very prolonged, with the best one being the brawl between Venom and another human with a symbiote. The effects work for the symbiotes is of great quality--and the distinct colors of different symbiotes allow viewers to easily tell Venom from other aliens. The fights provide a respite from the dialogue, which, unfortunately, is often mediocre at best in its thematic consistency. Though the trailers presented Venom as being largely devoid of humor, the lines frequently involve far too much comedy, with the jokes proving very gratuitous in a movie about an alien that consumes people to stay alive.
I love Tom Hardy, but his Eddie Brock is written inconsistently, as he can go from having very grave attitudes to releasing outbursts of random comedy. Brock's relationship with Venom is one of the high points of the film, however; the symbiote shifts from identifying only himself as Venom to collectively identifying as Venom with Eddie Brock. The individuality of Eddie and Venom is on full display through details such as Eddie, covered by his symbiote, talking without Venom's mouth moving. They are treated as separate characters that forge a very unique relationship, and anything else would have been heinous. The supporting actors/actresses, like Jenny Slate, are actually more stable in the consistency of their lines than Tom Hardy's character, but they receive scant attention. There is one other character that needs to be specifically addressed.
Riz Ahmed is a passable Carlton Drake. The actor himself does not do anything terrible, or anything spectacular, with his role. However, the character is a very simplistic villain, and, as is common in comic book movies, dies in the film that introduces him. I've become quite frustrated with the fact that the vast majority of villains in films based on comics about superheroes, even after numerous complaints from viewers, are superficial, undeveloped, and given little screen time. Despite this, Riot, the symbiote that bonds with Drake, provides a visually distinctive, extraterrestrial antagonist, though scarcely anything is explained about his species, the details of their plan to invade earth, and how the symbiotes can interact with hosts both physically and telepathically. One of the best scenes is the showdown between Venom and Riot in the climactic fight depicted in the trailer--though even this fight fails to be graphic.
[Edit: As an aside, the song Venom that plays in the credits does not belong. Iron Man features the Black Sabbath song of the same name in its own credits despite the song having no connection to the Marvel character, yet the move is very fitting. Ironically, despite being about the character, the song Venom by Eminem is out of place. Ultimately, Disturbed's recent song This Venom would have been a much better fit for the film, although it has nothing to do with the symbiote.]
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Story
Spoilers!
Everything Brock suggested proves true. Drake desperately attempts to get the aliens, which are termed symbiotes, to successfully bond with human hosts without leading to the deaths of either the symbiotes or the humans. As Eddie struggles to find a replacement job, he is contacted by a scientist from the Life Foundation, who affirms the allegations and admits the discovery of alien life forms. Eddie eventually agrees to visit a facility, but ends up releasing a test subject, a poor woman he knew from the streets. She passes on her symbiote to Eddie, who reaches a state of symbiosis when the creature does not kill him quickly.
Enjoying superhuman abilities, Eddie evades pursuers. His symbiote, able to communicate through seeming telepathy and by materializing itself as a protrusion from his body, eventually identifies itself as Venom. Carlton Drake soon achieves symbiosis of his own with another symbiote called Riot, who wishes to use a Life Foundation rocket to leave the earth so he can gather other members of his species, bring them back to earth, and have them inhabit the planet. Before he can return to outer space, Riot, still partnering with Drake, fights Eddie and Venom, who succeed in killing both of their enemies. Eddie secretly keeps his bond with Venom, though he insists that they must channel their abilities only towards fighting evil people.
Intellectual Content
Venom was marketed as if it would provide a sophisticated, dark exploration of anti-hero motivation, but the lackluster script practically doesn't even try to go below a surface level examination of the concept. The moral debates between Eddie and Venom are written for the sake of humor, not introspective, ethical depth. Eddie does not want to be particularly aggressive because of his subjective personality traits, and Venom only wants to be aggressive due to his biological impulses for survival. I was very disappointed with the shallowness that anti-heroism was addressed with. A great deal of the promotional material suggested that the theme of ethical conflict would be stark and thoroughly woven into the story, but neither turned out to be the case.
Conclusion
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For the sake of those who will view Venom in theaters, I want to emphasize again that it is worth it to stay until the mid-credits scene ends. The credits scene, a very well-conducted scene in its own right, accomplishes its worldbuilding purposes and hints at the legitimate potential of a sequel. If only more of the film was like the credits scene, Venom would not have been a work of such conflicting quality. As it is, Venom will likely continue to prove a highly polarizing movie. I have hopes for an extended cut on DVD or Blue-ray that features Tom Hardy's favorite 40 minutes that were omitted. Perhaps the cut could even be R or unrated? An extended version might soften some of the movie's flaws, especially the sometimes lighthearted script.
Content:
1. Violence: To the distress of many fans, Venom is not rated R. The movie by no means pushes the boundaries of the PG-13 rating in the ways that I hoped it would, but there is a fair amount of brutal combat, albeit brutality without gore. Venom and Riot are violent when interacting with each other or other people.
2. Profanity: Eddie, Venom, and other characters use profanity in numerous scenes.
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