Venom Wants to Eat Its Critics

Venom (2018)

Venom was actually pretty good. Was it Avengers: Infinity War good? Not even close. Was it Fant4stic bad? Not even close. It was a decent origin story about an alien parasite possessing and then becoming friends with a human. Venom really made Spider-Man 3 look like a bad movie. While Spider-Man 3 was overstuffed with content and villains such that nothing got the time it deserved, Venom was a simple and straightforward story. Nothing was surprising, but the excellent cast carried the movie. With worse actors, this movie would be unwatchable, but Hardy nails the off kilter Eddie Brock and Riz Ahmed was an excellent heel. I don’t really need to say that Michelle Williams was great, because she always is, but I will anyway. I find her delightful in everything. While everyone acted very well, I do wish the movie was about 10 to 15 minutes longer to flush out their characters a little bit more, particularly the Eddie Brock/Venom relationship. The lack of emphasis on that relationship was one of only two problems I had in the movie. Venom takes a big character turn because he is inspired by Eddie, but it felt like all of the scenes that would make that happen were cut from the film. Those were probably the scenes that Tom Hardy wanted kept in the movie. The other problem I had was the inconsistent CGI. There were times that I was in awe at how Venom looked and some of the action set pieces, but there were other times where Venom and Riot (the other symbiote) looked laughable. The only spoiler I will give is that there is no Spider-Man. There is a scene from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse at the end of the credits though, if you want to stay through what felt like the longest credits ever, but I don’t recommend it because you will be able to watch that exact scene in two months. There is a mid-credits scene that is worth staying for that sets up a sequel that I really hope happens. I know that I am in the minority, but I enjoyed Venom and don’t understand why critics hate it so much. It didn’t do anything bad, it just didn’t do anything great. It was a fun action movie that is unfortunately going to always be compared to great MCU movies. I give Venom 3 of the 5 vital organs in the human body that Venom wants to eat.