Venom

Released 3rd October, Venom follows reporter Eddie Brock as he uncovers a corporate conspiracy with an unlikely ally. Much like 2007’s Ghost Rider or 2016’s Deadpool, Venom plants itself into the antihero bracket of the ‘superhero’ genre by presenting a grittier world filled with flawed individuals who are just trying to go about their lives. One hallmark that this film manages to achieve is by establishing San Francisco as a city that these characters interact with and live in; you gain an understanding of their lives which helps to ground the narrative that is centred around redemption, heroism, scientific boundaries and… alien goo. In regard to the theme of scientific boundaries and pushing far past them, Riz Ahmed gives a ‘performance’ as Carlton Drake; Drake serves as the antagonist of the film in trying to use the symbiotes to better sustain human life with a disregard of human life along the way.

Ahmed is laughably bad in his performance throughout; he is completely one-dimensional and lacking any emotion in his performance. While I would normally leave them out, this problem also span to the extras of the film who do absolutely nothing until they are cued by the lead actors; it is truly hysterical and once you notice some of the instances you will never unsee them. Tom Hardy infuses Eddie Brock with a believable suaveness before his downfall and he is very successful in encapsulating the anxieties you would expect from someone dealing with an alien parasite (also voiced by Tom Hardy). Despite being a voice through most of the film, Venom’s dynamic with Eddie works surprisingly well and their interactions carry the film with great hardiness and enjoyability. Michelle Williams, Jenny Slate and Reid Scott give passable performances which serve to move the plot along where necessary.

To be frank, the pacing of the film is bonkers. The first act feels entirely rushed which prevents any concrete attachments being formed; when you get to the second act, it feels a lot slower and (while enabling attachments to be formed to these characters) drags in places. More so than most other films, the visual effects here are a very mixed bag; due to the fluid yet solid nature of the symbiotes, there were bound to be complications in bringing the concepts to life and as a result many shots look really unpolished thus degrading the effect of the well realised shots. Ludwig Göransson’s soundtrack is probably the highlight of the film; it is consistent in its motifs and capturing the emotions desired for the scenes. Overall, Venom is one of the weaker superhero films to come out of the past decade, however, the dynamic between Eddie and Venom is able to carry the film from the second act to be an enjoyable experience where you do not have to focus too hard.