The Venom Review: Pulled punches and missed opportunities as Tom Hardy shoulders a problematic feature

By Deputy Chief EditorOctober 3, 2018

189 3 minutes read

BGUK_1305182 - ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN UNITED STATES ** Los Angeles, - Venom is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics. The film is being directed by Ruben Fleischer and stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom, alongside Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, and Reid Scott --------- *BACKGRID DOES NOT CLAIM ANY COPYRIGHT OR LICENSE IN THE ATTACHED MATERIAL. ANY DOWNLOADING FEES CHARGED BY BACKGRID ARE FOR BACKGRID'S SERVICES ONLY, AND DO NOT, NOR ARE THEY INTENDED TO, CONVEY TO THE USER ANY COPYRIGHT OR LICENSE IN THE MATERIAL. BY PUBLISHING THIS MATERIAL , THE USER EXPRESSLY AGREES TO INDEMNIFY AND TO HOLD BACKGRID HARMLESS FROM ANY CLAIMS, DEMANDS, OR CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED IN ANY WAY WITH USER'S PUBLICATION OF THE MATERIAL* Pictured: Tom Hardy BACKGRID UK 4 AUGUST 2018 UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com *UK Clients - Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* — The feature lacks punch (picture: Ruba)

Fans of Spider-Man have been waiting with a mixture of excitement and trepidation for the origin story of the dark antihero Venom, and Sony has answered the call. Directed by Ruben Fleischer (30 Minutes or Less and Zombieland) and boasting a stellar cast – Michelle Williams, Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed – the film should have been excellent. While Hardys performance as both Eddie and the voice of Venom is engaging – not much else is.

Lets get down to it: The film follows the cheeky but affable investigative journalist Eddie Brock, played by Tom Hardy, as he tries to take down Dr Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), the dark genius who founded a scientific research organisation called Life Foundation. Whispers of nefarious deeds and deaths in the lab leads Brock into sneaking into Drakes building, where he stumbles across an experiment that forces him to merge with a symbiote – an alien entity – that calls itself Venom.

BGUK_1352676 - ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN UNITED STATES ** Los Angeles, CA - Tom Hardy locks lips with Michelle Williams in new clip from Venom. In the brief clip, his character Eddie Brock's romantic side comes out as he shares a kiss with Michelle Williams, who plays his girlfriend Anne Weying. Sidling up close as they chat in a bar, Weying is flirty but still warns him to be careful. "We don't want a repeat of the Daily Globe incident," she gently admonishes, referencing the rival newspaper to Peter Parker's Daily Bugle. "Baby you were run out of New York. I don't want you run out of San Francisco." Brock playfully fights back: "I was going places. I wasn't running, I was going places. I moved to San Francisco for you, you are my home." "You're not so bad yourself champ," she replies, leaning in for a kiss. In the Marvel film, Brock is a journalist who bonds with an alien symbiote, which gives him superpowers but forces the two to share the same body. In the comics, Weying is the first person to become She-Venom, after bonding with the symbiote. Venom opens in cinemas on October 5, 2018. *BACKGRID DOES NOT CLAIM ANY COPYRIGHT OR LICENSE IN THE ATTACHED MATERIAL. ANY DOWNLOADING FEES CHARGED BY BACKGRID ARE FOR BACKGRID'S SERVICES ONLY, AND DO NOT, NOR ARE THEY INTENDED TO, CONVEY TO THE USER ANY COPYRIGHT OR LICENSE IN THE MATERIAL. BY PUBLISHING THIS MATERIAL , THE USER EXPRESSLY AGREES TO INDEMNIFY AND TO HOLD BACKGRID HARMLESS FROM ANY CLAIMS, DEMANDS, OR CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED IN ANY WAY WITH USER'S PUBLICATION OF THE MATERIAL* Pictured: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams BACKGRID UK 28 SEPTEMBER 2018 BYLINE MUST READ: Sony Pictures / BACKGRID UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com *UK Clients - Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* — Michelle and Toms have great chemistry (Picture: BACKGRID)

Suddenly imbued with superhuman strength and power – and an insatiable hunger to go with it – Hardy dodges Drakes goons and faces off against a threat that could end life on earth, all the while struggling with his murderous alter-ego.

The back-and-forth between Venom and Eddie plays out like a bizarre courtship as Venoms baser urges (the inconvenient craving for human heads) clashes with Eddies blasé, black quips in – sometimes unintentionally -humorous moments.

While the pace is gunslinger fast, the story struggles under a weak and confused antagonist. We have Dr Drake, who see-saws between an ego-trip, genuinely wanting to save an overpopulated planet, and a deadly curiosity to know the world and everything that lies outside of it. So much could have been done with the character, but it falls flat. Where Riz should be sinister, he is perpetually dopey. He did not have Thanos hypnotic conviction, nor did he posses Lokis burning desire to be recognised. There was no rage like Hela or, once he merged with the symbiote Riot, not even Galactus hunger for life. He just, sort of floundered around looking concerned a lot.

Tom Hardys presence dominated, and it is testament to his acting that he keeps you transfixed on the screen even as the whole story falls apart under a lacklustre script. He and Michelle Williams bounce off each other nicely, and their chemistry keeps the scenes they share light and entertaining. Hardy shines in the fight scenes, which are directed seamlessly, and Venoms extendable goo-like limbs make for riveting sequences.

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This, however, is where the problem lies with the rating: Despite all the fighting, there is hardly any blood. In a film such as this, which looks not at the perfectly put together, morally well adjusted superhero, but rather at the osmosis of violence and anger in a character more vicious than forgiving, it is remarkably clean.

Annoyingly clean. Unlike Deadpool, which features crimson blood splatters and jutted-out limbs in its fight sequences, Venom lacks the kind of flinching, blood-coated savagery people expect to see, even when the alien bites off someones head.

Venom pulls its punches and misses the gore mark expected from a film where there are no heroes. Still, it is entertaining.

If you dont compare it to its contemporaries.

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