This movie has rich action, a creative story, powerful screenplay, and decent acting. But it’s intentionally sacrilegious in so many ways – not least the plethora of antihuman undertones & overtones conveyed by its main antagonists – the human baddie and the alien baddie.
The genre is a cross between a typical Marvel sci-fi fantasy action hero movie and some kind of creepy sadistic horror movie. Fortunately, for those who are here for the former, not the latter, this movie is generally bearable for who generally don’t find the horror genre palatable.
A great replay-worthy bespoke theme tune from Eminem kicks in after the 90 minute mark, as credits start rolling when there’s still strangely 20 minutes to go. When they’re done we get a few minutes more of the movie, then the same credits seem to be rolling all over again, a bit more comprehensively this time. Then there’s a strange 5-minute spiderman cartoon at the end. I wonder if this is in every version of the Venom movie. Seems a little off-genre. I mean it’s all Marvellous stuff, but I’m generally not into animated movies.
Anyway back to the actual movie called Venom, starring Tom Hardy – he does a great job of acting in this movie. He becomes a familiar & likeable actor by the end. Michelle Williams is adequate as the lead female, and Riz Ahmed is pretty good as the main baddie through most of the movie (till he’s out-done by Venom’s counterpart – the alien supervillain). That’s as far as the core cast goes. The next most notable roles are played by Jenny Slate (the doctor who gains a conscience) and Peggy Lu (the convenience store keeper). They’re both about adequate too – no better.
Overall, I rate Venom (2018) as a Decent movie. It’s got too much rich action, strong acting, and high quality cinematography to be rated just OK. But the horror element and the antihuman sentiments shining through, leave a bitter taste in my mouth and prevent me from rating it as highly as Pretty Good.
Sequels
If you enjoyed Venom (2018), you’re in luck, since there’s a sequel called Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). Unfortunately though, it’s a couple levels down from the standards set by the original. It’s far less creative, mostly just piggybacking on the concepts already established in the original, and has an even more sickly vibe so much that it’s barely watchable at times. It’s not as good as most of the movies that I’ve rated OK, let alone Decent like the original – this is mainly due to the conflict of genre, since I’m tuning in for smooth action-packed entertainment, not repulsive horror material.
There’s also a threequel that hit the big screen recently, called Venom: The Last Dance (2024). Hopefully that’ll be the end of it now, and Marvel can put more energy into their stuff like Thor, Black Panther and Doctor Strange. No disrespect to Tom Hardy though – he’s a quality actor – but this Venom stuff is putrid.