Journalist Eddie Brock is trying to take down Carlton Drake, 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.
I'll try to keep this review short and sweet, for those of you that are struck for time and on the go! Venom is the latest film in the Marvel universe and provides us with and interesting story between man and 'symbiote' and the story that they share. Actor Tom Hardy is at his best in action and superhero films and this film is no different to the rest. So it was no surprise to see him as the lead character in this film, I have personally not encountered any of the Venom films/comics before so this film was definitely interesting to say the least! But that can mean many different things to different people, so here are my thoughts.
There was a lot to be liked about this film, the way that different characters were introduced to the audience by showing them in different perspectives was done really nicely, by seeing Eddie and Anne's relationship going from 100 to 0 very quickly. This gave us a really good idea of the types of characters that we were dealing with, because we got to see them actively in their life's and the types of people that they were both inside and outside of work. I also really liked the sub stories within the plot too, such as the visits to the corner shop, or the friendships and bonds that Eddie shared with people on the streets. These simple interactions gave us a lot to think about Eddie's personality and how he came across to the audience. The characters relationships adapted and evolved throughout the film which really made them exciting and intriguing to say the least, but most importantly it made them seem realistic, relatable and down to Earth because they were depicted to have normal lives, normal stories and normal families. The film had plenty of really exciting scenes through that had a really positive impact on the audience, it was a really exciting and thrilling film that included both suspense and action and I really liked how secretive the labs were. We were then taken into them which added to the tension further, and then we explored them with the characters, sharing their nervousness. Mainly due to the handheld camera effect essentially allowing us to join in on the break in, every turn was scary and made us wonder what would jump out which helped to keep our attention on the film. These emotions were really nicely conveyed back to us as an audience too which was really effective, like I mentioned, the emotions of suspense and excitement were excellently conveyed to the audience throughout and really helped to make the film entertaining and exciting. But no superhero film is without humour, what I especially liked about this film was how it used a Deadpool-esque sense of humour but without trying too hard or the overuse of jokes. Here, it was much more subtle and really helped the film to have a really positive effect on the audience - adding laughter into the mix of emotions that we experienced from the film.
The film definitely portrayed Eddie as a failure and a loser towards the beginning, but similarly to most films, he was successful in the end with the help of Venom. Their bond was really awesome to experience. Seeing Eddie struggle to initially deal with Venom was difficult and at times, painful to watch because it had lots of cringey and strange scenes that just mystified and essentially shocked the audience when we were exposed to him and his appearance. Oh, and not to mention the numerous be-headings that went on... But this was definitely not a bad thing and if anything, it helped to engage the film with the audience and actually make it much more entertaining and fun to watch which I loved.
On the other hand, this was definitely not a perfect movie either. Its biggest flaw is the fact that every character is very standard and one-dimensional, and even though they are really interesting, they aren't unique or that engaging to deal with. Given that this film has a great set of actors such as Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed, that's quite annoying. Especially as these are excellent actors with the potential to really help the film succeed, but here, they just seem generic and the acting doesn't really set their characters apart from the other films they star in. It has a decent score and the action is entertaining at times, but the story itself falls flat on its face. This movie would've benefited from a better introduction into the character Venom, but I must admit, the presence of that character is pretty awesome on-screen and he is enjoyable to witness go about his daily business. The plot of this film was very off balanced too, there was far too much time at the beginning where not too much happened and then everything seemed to jump in and lots of action happened at the end. In this respect, many of the things he did didn't really seem justified or well explained at all.
Overall, I would rate this film a 7.5. I found it to be really enjoyable and I especially enjoyed the relationship between Eddie and Venom which I found to be really enjoyable and entertaining. I also think that the plot was fairly well thought though and even though it had some stability issues, it was relayed to us in a fairly straightforward and simple manner which made it easy to understand and interpret. However the film had many issues as well which had a large impact, the actors weren't very engaging or exciting at all and they didn't seem to really push their characters to make them unique or enjoyable at all. Apart from the main characters of course. There were issues with the speed and balance of the plot which despite it being easy to understand, the plot issues definitely rocked the boat and made the whole ride slightly uneven and confusing. I would really recommend this film to anyone looking for a thrilling, funny or/and engaging film, it's really good if you can overlook the issues that I outlined.
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this review! Maybe I'll have to start making "FilmTalk express" posts, let me know you thoughts!!
Have a lovely day!
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