Movie Review - Venom

The biggest offence that a life-long Venom devotee could ever commit, one that would warrant Klyntar's exile, is not watching the most anticipated live-action adaptation of the titular character on the opening weekend. Regrettably, I am guilty of this. It should come as no surprise that I had made perfect arrangements to watch this as soon as it hit the IMAX screen near me (with center seats, perfect viewing distance and all) only to cancel it due to a family emergency. I am almost ashamed to say that I watched Venom only on the second weekend and hence, this delay on the review. I apologize to you all if you had reservations about the movie and were waiting for my opinion, especially considering the "professional reviewers" out there sucker-punching this movie left, right and center.

 

However, on a positive note, I am extremely happy to report as a Venom fan, and as a movie fan in general, that Venom delivers. But the extent to which it delivers is a matter of debate. And that is what this review is going to be all about. One thing I can most certainly say is that the "pros" are talking out of their backsides. If you are here for the short version, I would implore you to turn a deaf ear and see it for yourself to judge. Others, read on...

 

From what the trailers had shown me, I was afraid I was going to have a run-of-them-mill, generic good vs. evil story with carboard cut-out characters. While that is true to some extent, the characters had enough depth to keep me entertained. Riz Ahmed's Elon musk-esque billionaire genius resonated with me for some reason. He is a darling among kids who look to him for inspiration, when he is actually a criminal mastermind behind the curtains (which I honestly believe is true with the real-life counterpart also). Michelle Williams' Ann Weying was so close to being a one-note character but she still has some ins and outs (not-to-mention a sweet-ass, hot cameo *wink*) to be interesting. Speaking of depth, Tom Hardy's twitchy, weird person character somehow manages to work. If I remember the comics right, the cheese was there but Eddie Brock was a normal guy with some internal issues. When it comes to the boss-man Venom himself, he is creepily true to the comic books. He is intimidating, funny and also somewhat emotional. I have already said this before but this Venom feels like an exact replication of Ultimate Venom from the comics. The evidence is there for us to see, namely a hulking beast who can leap tall buildings, no symbol on the chest etc. I loved watching Venom. Every second of him.

 

If you have seen all the trailers, you know the story by now. And come to think of it, the story was surprisingly left in the background. So many things were going on that the story was almost being ignored. This, I felt, was good and also a bad thing. To put it simply, the thin plot enabled us as viewers to concentrate more on the characters while we kept asking to ourselves "why?". Moreover, I felt that the plot is drastically different from The Lethal Protector series of comics, on which the movie-makers have claimed this is based on. But that did not bother me one bit and I could spot the minor nods it had to the original source material. The action scenes that were there were well choregraphed and shot, and kept me hooked at the same time.

 

 

The CGI is a mixed bag. While in some scenes it looks convincing, others look like it was made in the 2000s. I am willing to bet this is because of the strict budget and time constraints, which is understandable. With much more time in the oven, this could have been great but I am glad that what is in there is serviceable. More importantly, boss-man looks great and to me, that is sufficient. Also, speaking of 2000s, this movie could fit in with Sam Raimi's Spiderman trilogy and more easily with Andrew Garfield's Spiderman adaptation. But not so much with the MCU. I wonder how they are going to place this piece of the puzzle, if at all, given that the movie has already made a lot of money and pretty much guaranteed sequels. 

 

I have been waiting for 10 years for a proper, live-action Venom movie and this has delivered...but only just. Rumors are circling that 30 to 40 minutes have been cut from the original movie to make it PG-13. This is such a shame because I could have easily taken another hour of this movie. With amped up violence and more Alien-esque gore, this could be among the likes of Logan and Deadpool as the R-Rated Marvel universe. Here's hoping that the bluray release comes with all the goodness in tact. With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed the very quick 90 minutes runtime of Venom. Critics can go and f themselves because WE ARE VENOM!

 

Score - 7.5/10

 

 

To 3D or not to 3D -The conversion is pretty much non-existent. The depth is barely noticeable and pop-out scenes are extremely rare. If 2D is available in cinemas near you, go for it.