Venom:

        Venom takes place in the present day and is mostly set in San Francisco. The main character of the film is Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), a journalist of some sort and has his own news show. Eddie is in a relationship with Annie Weying (Michelle Williams) and it seems the two are engaged. Around this time a spaceship chartered by Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) and the Life Foundation, crashes in rural Malaysia. The ship was carrying four different symbiotes; only three are found in the wreck. The three found are brought back to San Francisco to be studied at the HQ of the Life Foundation. Once Carlton Drake gets his hand on the three remaining symbiotes he immediately begins tests. He originally starts on rabbits and as soon as one test out of many is successful he moves on to human testing. After rumors spread about the human testing Eddie Becomes enraged by this and when he sent to interview Drake he takes this chance to take him down. During the interview as soon as he brings up the human Drake ends the interview. Eddie receives backlash from this action. He loses his job; his fiancée loses hers and she ultimately leaves Eddie. One of Drake’s head scientists (Jenny Slate) is appalled by her boss’ lack of remorse when human testing’s go terribly awry. She seeks out Eddie and asks him to investigate the facility and expose Drake. When Eddie invades the laboratory with the help of the scientist he finds a homeless lady, he had befriended, in a testing chamber. To help her he breaks open the chamber and gets her out. Although it works the symbiote in her takes over and transfers itself to Eddie’s body. Venom (voiced by Tom Hardy) is now in Eddie. Eddie can escape with the help of Venom. To avoid spoilers, I must stop here.

Plot: C-

        Besides making money this film lacks a strong central theme. The film misses all opportunities to have one. I found two chances where it could have made a statement or find its footing. At one point when Eddie and Venom conversing, Venom mentions why he bonded with Eddie. Eddie had lost his job and his grasp on reality and had become an alcoholic of some kind. Venom’s understanding of this is that he is a loser now and he follows this up with a short statement about how he was a “loser” where he came from. This adds nothing to the development of either character. The second chance was the reason for venom to switch sides. About two thirds of the way through the film Venom switches to Eddie’s side. Venom had originally wanted to destroy earth and take it over with his fellow symbiotes. He changes sides for seemingly no reason.

Themes and Motifs: F

        The acting in the film is decent at best. This is not the fault of the actors themselves; it is the screenplay. The screenplay is riddled with incoherent monologues and senseless dialogue. There are moments in the film that are laughable. One moment in the film Eddie is hit by a car when he is riding his motorcycle and is severely injured. In this moment venom takes over and carries him under a river and onto a buoy and Venom fixes his broken body. Eddie stand up and says, “My legs were broken…and now they’re not broken.” It is moments like these that the movie is plagued with. Venom also suffers from an absence of chemistry between two of the lead characters. Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams are supposed to play a couple in a long-term relationship until it ends. When they are on a date it almost appears to be a business meeting. The screenplay also doesn’t do them any favors. In their first scene they are portrayed to be madly in love, but when she loses her job because of Eddie she breaks the engagement immediately. Throughout the rest of the film they are unable to play a couple that is supposed to be in love but can’t be together because of Eddies actions. Riz Ahmed is also incredibly miscast in the role of Carlton Drake. Riz tries his best to play the character the best he can but he lacks the ability to depict the emotionless Drake.

Acting: C-

Writing: D-

        The cinematography in this film is ok for what it was trying to do. The film was going for a gritty drama. If the film wanted to make it seem like every crevice in a room was filled with dirt; mission accomplished. Practically every scene in the film takes place in the dead of night. This choice would make sense unless your main character is black. I don’t mean skin color, I mean literally black. Venom basically disappears in every scene and this ruins every action scene he is involved in. The laboratory in the life foundation building, which is also a major setting in the film, is just a dark room that is tinted blue which is just a lame decision. Overall the cinematography works but it’s nothing special.

        Cinematography: C

        Overall Grade: D+

p.s. Don’t let Sony Pictures brainwash you into believing this is a comedy. They’re just doing damage control because they didn’t realize they actually made a comedy.