Venom Movie Review

Venom (2018)

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Written by: Jeff Pinkner & Scott Rosenberg and Kelly Marcel (screenplay by), Jeff Pinkner & Scott Rosenberg (screen story by), Todd McFarlane and David Michelinie (Marvel's Venom Character created by)
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Woody Harrelson
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
A failed reporter is bonded to an alien entity, one of many entities who have invaded Earth, but the entity takes a liking to Earth and decides to protect it.

Verdict
This is better than expected. Hardy does a great job, in much of the movie he's acting against himself while reacting to an unseen alien. I like that this subverts the usual super hero tale. While the villain is underdeveloped and present just for the big finale fight, this is more sci-fi than super hero. It's the story of an alien attaching to a human and acting out of self preservation.The bond between man and alien leads to some fun fights.
It depends.

Review
Tom Hardy always does a great job. He was able to excel in Locke (read my review), a movie that was a head shot of him driving for two hours. At the least I knew Hardy would be entertaining in this.

This all starts with an alien. It must bond with a human to survive on our world, and it just so happens that the rich entrepreneur who obtained the alien from space wants to start human trials. Riz Ahmed plays a laughable cartoon villain. The jump to human trails is introduced just to make him seem bad. He's a successful business man that wouldn't have gotten to where he is with that kind of shenanigan.

Eddie is an investigative reporter that finds himself in the villain's lab. The alien symbiote bonds to Eddie, where human trials had been unsuccessful before.
The best part of this movie is the link between Eddie and the alien called Venom. Hardy gets to act crazy and that's a lot of fun. There's a dichotomy in Eddie's head of this sentient alien. Eddie of course thinks he's going crazy at first. The initial fights are well done with Venom taking over.

I like the story when it manages to stay away from comic book tropes. Is Venom good, bad, or indifferent? Eddie and Venom have to figure out how this bond works and how they both can reach an agreement.

Venom can only live within Eddie's body, for whatever reason. The symbiote killed any other human after enough time, devouring them from the inside out. Maybe the difference is that, as Venom admits, he likes Eddie. Venom decides to protect Earth from the other symbiote Riot because he likes Earth. Venom is not motivated by a hero complex or compelled to use his powers responsibly. The outcome of fighting Riot benefits him in the moment.

Of course being a comic book movie, this has to have a big fight to save Earth, but I liked when the movie focused on the Eddie Venom relationship.