by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor

What happens when a pretty dislikable guy gets ahold of an alien symbiotic entity? You get Venom – the latest attempt from Sony to spin-off characters from the Spider-Man universe without actually using…Spider-Man. The fan-favorite anti-hero finally gets a solo outing on the big screen, but will audiences be able to forgive and forget their experience from viewing Spider-Man 3? Is Venom without a connection to Spider-Man even worth watching? I would like to say yes, but there is a caveat to this statement.

Despite the initial online reviews, I am pleased to say that Venom is not the complete train wreck of a film that we expected. While it is disjointed at times, audiences will actually be treated to a relatively accurate live action version of the Todd McFarlane created anti-hero. Aside from the missing Spider-Man connection, this interpretation of the character is pretty much spot on. This however does not make the film great by any means, just more in line with a Marvel movie that was released prior to Iron Man. 

During the first act of the film, audiences might be questioning if they are genuinely supposed to feel bad for Eddie Brock. Due to a series of poor choices, Brock ends up tanking his engagement, his job, and his overall life. In short, Eddie Brock is a loser and definitely a douche bag. When presented with an opportunity to take down a morally corrupt business man named Carlton Drake, Eddie finally steps up to do the right thing, but ends up in a worse situation as the host for an alien parasite. While it takes a long time to get to the merging of Eddie and the Symbiote, the pairing ultimately leads to the best scenes in the film. The interactions and overall creative choices between Eddie and Venom were handled perfectly. Eddie is portrayed more as a puppet being controlled by a puppeteer, but the merging of the two “partners” becomes more interesting as the story progresses. Tom Hardy does a phenomenal job channeling both characters, and the level of dark humor that came from these characters was quite surprising. 

With the focus on Brock/Venom and Carlton Drake, most of the supporting cast was relegated to the background of the film. Brock’s Ex-Fiance Anne (Michelle Williams) gets a few moments to be a badass, but is relegated to the background and placed into an extremely forced scene with Eddie/Venom in the middle of the forest (you will know it when you see it). Dr. Dan Lewis (Reid Scott) gets stuck in the worst possible situation as he attempts to assist Eddie and support his new girlfriend Anne. I would call this a love triangle, except with the addition of Venom it becomes more of a love square. Dr. Dorra Smith (Jenny Slate) seemingly has the opportunity to take control over the situation created by Drake and protect her moral centre, but has her screen time cut short in a decision to minimize her character’s involvement. Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake was a very different antagonist than we’ve seen in many superhero genre films, but ultimately does not do anything truly memorable with his billionaire turned villain. 

Aside from the story, I want to talk about the interesting run time. It was reported that the film had just over a two hour run time, but it actually ended up being about 90 minutes or so. After you see the first post credit scene, you really have to wonder if an entire subplot was removed from the film. A big name actor appearing strictly in a cameo isn’t unheard of (see Samuel L. Jackson in Iron Man), but it makes you consider that this character was originally meant to play a larger role for this particular outing. Run time aside, the film still felt a lot longer than it actually was.

Overall, Venom has a lot of problems, but those were mostly in the script and dialogue. The acting and special effects were handled well, and Venom truly comes alive as the monster that we all wanted from the beginning. While the Spider-Man connection wasn’t established in this release, I could see them eventually tying Peter Parker into Eddie Brock’s world. Even if they don’t go that direction, the sequel setup is pretty damn interesting. An open mind and low expectations might provide you with a more enjoyable overall experience with Venom. 

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Venom 3 out of 5 movies that are way better than Spider-Man 3.

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