Oh No, Another Superhero Origin Story
Eddie Brock is a little down on his luck. Lost his job, his girlfriend, and his apartment. The local tech company is up to some shady business, so Eddie decides to investigate. After discovering that they are experimenting on people with alien creatures, he takes it upon himself to stop them, but without having his own run-in with one of them first.
With Spider-Man out the door and heading back to Marvel, Sony tries to kick off another series with their remaining characters. Venom is one of them, and one of Spider-Man’s most well known villains. But does a Spider-Man villain work without the hero?
If you’re not well-versed on the character, no problem. With Spidey out of the picture, the origin was given a major face lift. Instead of working in New York, Eddie Brock stirs up trouble in San Francisco as a reporter. This was probably to avoid running into any Marvel characters based in The Big Apple, which is maybe-sort-of in the same universe?
Tom Hardy takes up the gooey mantle of Venom. Hardy is no stranger to the genre and brings in his skill to the character. He tries his best for what he’s given. With his wide range, he is able to take on the Dr. Jekkyl/Mr. Hyde version of the character. Throughout the movie, he jumps back and forth between the conscious Eddie Brock and off-the-chain Venom. The stoner/stuttery accent was take-it or leave-it, the latter for me.
Venom falls prey to being a cookie-cutter superhero origin story. Handsome guy whose life takes a turn for the worst, gets caught up on saving the world when he runs into a newfound superpower. This does have the twist of featuring a human eating anti-hero, but it’s pretty much the same. The story was riddled with plot holes. I guess it takes 6 months to get from Malaysia to San Francisco. I’m not sure why Symbiotes are weak to fire and sound. I guess Venom and Riot are just compatible with every host they touch. Given, there is no blue beam shooting into the sky, but there is the CGI riddled final battle with the palette-swapped big bad.
The CGI was not so particularly good. You don’t need to live in San Francisco to know that that fictitious lab hanging over the bay is not real, or that Venom and the squad weren’t real. The CGI really stood out and did not blend in well. When we got to the big fight at the end, it was just a mess of graphics blowing up everywhere. The idea of seeing the hosts within the symbiotes between explosions was cool, but it did not look good.
Another entry into the pantheon of superheroes in film, another origin story told. This feels like subpar attempt at holding onto as many Marvel properties as they can before giving them back. Everything seems like it was hastily put together and in the end, it did not work well. I don’t even want to include what happens after the credits roll, but strap in for more of this universe. I may not have liked this very much, but it looks like superheroes will continue to draw a crowd.