The Fantasy Review‘s Spoiler-Free Review of Venom (2018).
Rating: 3/5
Venom (2018) is such a fun movie, with Tom Hardy playing Eddie Brock as a sarcastic, determined investigative journalist who finds himself host to an alien symbiote, Venom.
Positives
Tom Hardy’s performance is the stand out aspect of this movie, for sure. He’s perfect for the role and plays it with the perfect mix of humour and sincerity. The dark comedy works very well, making you laugh while keeping the tension.
The general plot is a pretty good introduction to Venom and the other core characters. It’s not complex or anything, nothing we haven’t seen before, but it wasn’t done badly. You can definitely just sit back and enjoy Venom without having to think much.
Negatives
The main villain in Venom isn’t very interesting. We don’t really know much about him other than he’s willing to do anything and kill anyone to achieve his lofty goals. He doesn’t have a personality and he’s not engaging in any way.
They could have done so much more with this character and it feels like Tom Hardy and his character have been wasted on a generic movie. Sure, it’s watchable and even enjoyable to an extent, but by the end of it, you do sort of wonder if there could have been more.
The storyline could have been way more interesting, we could have had an awesome villain… etc. A lot of wasted potential, basically.
Final Thoughts
The tone and atmosphere of Venom is dark and eerie, even with the comedic elements, making it enjoyable and engaging. Definitely worth a watch, but don’t expect too much of this generic adaptation of the source material.
