Venom

This review may contain spoilers!

This isn't the best superhero outing ever, but Tom Hardy's incredible acting ability makes it well worth watching. I would give Venom a 6.5/10.

This film really works when it's exploring Eddie Brock's descent into becoming bonded with Venom, their symbiotic relationship and how they eventually develop a begrudging respect for one another. They have a very serious back and forth, each is constantly grappling with one another for control but neither can exist without the other. It isn't until they have become synonymous with each other in the third act that we really see this anti-hero fulfil his true potential and defeat the sinister symbiote: Riot. The cinematography looks really good, particularly for action sequences; yet I love how creative the director gets with movement once Eddie has bonded with Venom or the slightly off-angle framing in dialogue scenes from that point. The special effects look superb, Venom, Riot and She-Venom are all excellently designed and their action sequences a true joy to watch; these are characters that have to look scary and intimidating which is captured throughout the film. While the score for this film has its drawbacks the soundtrack works fairly well, tracks from Eminem and other grittier artists help set the dark tone a Venom film requires.

Reid Scott, who played Dr Dan Lewis, really does a great job at getting away from the 'oblivious new boyfriend' stereotype; Scott really plies the humour for his friendliness towards Hardy yet shows a genuine degree of care when his role is attempting to diagnose and heal the character of Brock. Woody Harrelson, who played Cletus Kasady, may only serve as a part in the post-credits scene but it is a great moment; Harrelson draws on Hannibal Lecter somewhat and you can feel the menace oozing out from between his prison bars. Peggy Lu and Emilio Rivera, who played Mrs Chen and Lobby Guard Richard respectively, demonstrate a great amount of talent despite their minor roles; Lu has an optimistic look on life despite the hardships her role faces while Rivera and Hardy have some exceptional friendly chemistry towards one another. Ron Cephas Jones, who played News Network Executive, has an easy way of delivering out cool and concise dialogue; Jones very calmly sets out a degree of power between him and Hardy leading to the ultimate conflict between them.

However, the best performance came from leading actor: Tom Hardy, who played Eddie Brock. I'm not going to lie heading into this film I doubted that I would be able to see Hardy as Brock but he really nails it in this role. When first we meet Hardy's Brock he is a bit aloof and comfortable in his life and relationship, yet as a reporter, he is very grounded and hard-hitting. Hardy really pushes the sense that this character needs to see justice done, no matter the price as a theme throughout Venom. Eddie's drive for justice leaves him very lonely and dejected after he loses everything that gives his life substance, and for a time we see a broken Brock. However, once he bonds with Venom the character really has to grapple with this symbiote he's joined with. The pair has a very conflicting view over what it means to wield power and for what purpose. Once Eddie embraces Venom it's clear his drive for justice changes the symbiote and in turn, a more self-confident Brock emerges too. This is a great arc from Hardy and it's not for nothing that he works hard on two roles in this film. He voices the very narrow-minded, hunger-driven Venom as well, doing great work to craft the alien entity and in turn lend some of Brock's mannerisms to the symbiote.

This film was always going to be an origin story but it takes a very long time to reach the introduction of the title character. The symbiotes are seen and discussed a great length in the first act but we don't reach the union of Eddie and Venom until about halfway into the feature. The pacing of the first act really does make for a slow opening, not a strong start for the feature. The really messy aspect is the antagonist, both the symbiote and Carlton Drake. The villainous Riot is seen in brief, jarring glimpses throughout the feature making his way to Carlton, yet their union is very sudden and rushes the audience into the final act of the film. Carlton, on the other hand, is an antagonist with a very generic motivation. He's unhappy about Earth being overpopulated and wants all human beings to be bonded with symbiotes or something, not giving a damn about who gets killed along the way. It's pretty tired, played out and a role that just lets the film down majorly. The romantic subplot throughout Venom is very dull and has little substance to it, the way it's written is quite vanilla and there's nothing there to make this thrilling or something audiences can connect with. The score for the film is dark and ups the noise for the action sequences, but you won't hear anything very original or inspired in these tracks.

Michelle Williams, who played Anne Weying, just doesn't have much to do in this film; Williams really struggles to lend any sort of character to this very two-dimensional love interest. Riz Ahmed, who played Carlton Drake, proved in the last Jason Bourne that he's not fit to be an antagonist; Ahmed doesn't have the screen presence to come across as menacing and doesn't really feel like he's connected with his role. Scott Haze, who played Security Chief Roland Treece, is just a generic henchman with a little too much screen time; Haze's gruff exterior and gravelly antagonism is nothing new and rather boring to watch. Jenny Slate, who played Dr Dora Skirth, has shown herself to be great in comedy and voice acting but this dramatic role really doesn't suit her; Slate just feels out of place in her scenes and doesn't exactly fit the scientist role she is given.