‘Venom’ review: Hardy brings the thrills
The British actor’s comic dynamic with the alien parasite saves an otherwise ridiculous attempt by Sony at a comic book adaptation
One comes away from Sony’s latest comic book adaptation with the burning sense that you’re supposed to hate it. But Venom manages to be a surprisingly good time — despite its many sincere tries to absolutely suck — especially because it doesn’t take itself, or its dense comic lore, too seriously. And because Tom Hardy, as always, is a delight to behold on the big screen.
Hardy plays Eddie Brock, a popular journalist who wants to speak truth to power, and who has left New York behind after an unspecified incident at his previous newspaper for the warmer climes of sunny Los Angeles, which you only get to see at night time (go figure). While this version of Brock wants to help people and bring big corporations down, his methods aren’t always so noble.
And this gets him into trouble more than once.
One such big organisation is the Life Foundation, an unscrupulous pharmaceutical and research organisation, headed by one Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), who are on the verge of illegal human experimentation, involving parasitic aliens.
Brock, through his fiance Anne Weying (an underused Michelle Williams), finds his big scoop and goes after Drake, only to accidentally end up bonding with one of the said alien parasites, who has itself been searching for a good “match”.
Most of the fun of Venom is the buddy comedy dynamic between Brock and the eponymous big-tongued and toothy alien. British actor Hardy switches between an American accent and a deep, throaty alien growl with superb ease and for most of the movie’s run time you’re laughing out loud.
So for those of you who’re expecting a gritty, dark take on the Marvel anti-hero, you’ll have to wait for another adaptation, because this one can best be described as a light-hearted monster romp that features light cannibalism. It’s all done very tastefully, we promise.
The film does come with its flaws — too many to, in any good conscience, be ignored. The acting, from everyone but Hardy, is abysmally sub par. Ahmed as arch-nemesis Drake is criminally miscast. The mild-mannered and small-statured Ahmed, however hard he tried, was unable to channel true evil and this takes away from the impact of the story. A good comic book story is only as good as its villain, and here Venom fails.
The film is also poorly shot. Most of the scenes take place in the dark and you miss a lot of the action because your eyes are forever trying to adjust to the shoddy lighting. It’s a shame because some of the action set pieces looked as if they could have been mind-blowing if anyone would have bother lighting the shot better.
Watch this movie for the wild ride it is. The movie’s best moments are when it goes completely off the rails as it goes about depicting Brock and Venom’s relationship. There’s a kooky vibe to their conversations that stay very close to their comic book origins, but also pushes those boundaries enough to come off as something wholly original. We are definitely looking forward to a sequel, one that will develop on Brock/Venom as they take on bigger monsters.
P.S. There are two post credit scenes, so make sure you stay until the very end.