Venom
By James Davidson
“Venom” is the film adaptation of the Marvel Comics character with the same name. The movie follows Eddie Brock (played by Tom Hardy), a journalist who is trying to prove that a scientific company called the Life Foundation is putting humans in danger by using them in some of its experiments. The owner of the Life Foundation, Carlton Drake (played by Riz Ahmed), retaliates by ruining Eddie’s life ultimately costing him his job and fiancé. Eddie sneaks into the Life Foundation to find proof; instead he finds an alien symbiote named Venom that bonds with him, giving him superpowers.
I have always been a huge fan of Venom and was worried about how the film would portray the character, as well as how the filmmakers would create him without the use of Spider-Man. Venom is best known as a Spider-Man villain and Spider-Man plays a very important role in Venom’s origin. But since Sony does not own the rights to Spider-Man, I thought it was going to be very difficult to do a Venom movie without him. However, I thought the movie did a very good job adapting the story so that I didn’t even miss Spider-Man’s absence and the story still made sense.
I really enjoyed Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Eddie Brock, I think he was the perfect choice. As a fan of the comics, I was concerned with how Eddie would be portrayed and thankfully I was not disappointed. In the comics, Eddie is portrayed as a “loser” whose life has been ruined, but then he finds Venom and uses his relationship with the symbiote to turn his life around. I thought Hardy really captured the essence of Eddie Brock and did an amazing job portraying him.
I felt the filmmakers did a fantastic job capturing the relationship between Eddie and Venom. It was fun watching Eddie have conversations and arguments with the symbiote that lives inside of him. I thought Tom Hardy definitely has the acting skill needed to show that relationship and his portrayal of it was phenomenal.
While I thought the acting was great and the plot was engaging, the special effects were absolutely horrendous in my opinion. The Computer Generated Imaging (CGI) of Venom and the other symbiotes looked cheaply done and rushed. I thought that took away a little bit from the movie, but I was still entertained. I thought the fight scenes and the action scenes were well done, but the CGI was just awful and it looked almost like it wasn’t finished before it was released.
“Venom” is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, as well as language. It would be inappropriate for younger viewers. While I was a big fan of the comics, I don’t think you have to be a fan of the comics to enjoy this movie. I think it is a great movie for fans of the comic character and the casual moviegoer.
“Venom” is a surprisingly fun sci-fi, superhero action film with great acting and fantastic characters, even if the special effects leave a lot to be desired. I will definitely be buying this movie and adding it to my collection so that I can enjoy it again and again. “Venom” earns 4 out of 5 stars
Film Fodder 