Much unwarranted venom

VENOM – THE MOVIE: UNFAIRLY SLAMMED BECAUSE IT WAS EXPECTED TO BE SOMETHING IT’S NOT

‘Cult’ is written all over it and it’s damn good fun on its own terms.

Venom has been kicked up and down the streets by critics since its release last month. Does it deserve all this derision? I would say no. It’s currently sitting at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes (that would be “Rotten”) and 35% on Metacritic (not much better). Critics have slammed it for everything from uneven tone, muddled plotting to Tom Hardy’s neurotic portrayal of Eddie Brock. One review states that it’s “perhaps the worst Marvel-derived origin story ever” and another calls it “a turd in the wind”.

Let me set out my stall right from the start: Venom is not a great movie. However, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable one and initially I battled to understand where all the (ahem) venom out there for this film was coming from.

It may have been because the trailers promised a resolutely dark affair. From Venom’s dreaded visage to the sight of Tom Hardy sending thugs flying by shooting goo from his body, one might be forgiven for thinking that Venom would be more violent and gory than the final release, and more flesh-crawling in tone.

Diehard Marvel fans complained that Venom’s origin story in the film breaks with comic book lore. Venom began life as one of Spiderman’s villains; the titular symbiote bonded with Peter Parker and when the latter realised his passenger’s bloodthirsty tendencies, he got rid of it. This prompted the symbiote to bond with Eddie Brock, a journalist who had an axe to grind with Spiderman.

Let’s address the second complaint first. Yes, the story in Venom isn’t comic canon, but this was a given since Sony has released Spiderman back to Marvel. But then, Venom’s appeal as a character isn’t banked on him being one of spidey’s villains. As the character progressed in the comics, he became more of an unhinged anti-hero in his own right, and liberating him from a situation where his existence depends on the web-head being present makes him a more bankable, and interesting, prospect.

As far as the first complaint is concerned, yes, Venom has been portrayed as a dark soul at times, but he’s also been written as a borderline socially-autistic goof. Anyone who doubts this should read the Venom: Lethal Protector comic. And Tom Hardy’s performance is note-perfect as Brock.

Venom has been unfairly slammed because it was expected to be something it’s not. It isn’t a Marvel staple or a superhero horror flick for Halloween month.

It’s a darkly comic movie about a pair of losers who may just be the best superhero comedy double act to get their own movie. This has cult written all over it and for good reason – it’s damn good fun when taken on its own terms.