Venom

Year: 2018
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Reid Scott, Scott Haze

Plot: Reporter Eddie Brock comes into contact with an alien symbiote called Venom, and together they have to stop Venom's rival symbiotes, who plan on bringing the rest of their kind to Earth.


Review: Does Venom really need a movie? Sure, Venom's appearance in Spider-Man 3 was extremely poor and best forgotten, but this move by Sony feels more like a last ditch attempt to make money before Marvel Studios uses the character than a need to make up for Spidey 3.

Thankfully, Venom turned out to be quite fun, even though it isn't without its drawbacks. Despite a slow first act, director Ruben Fleischer makes up for that by turning up the pace once Eddie Brock merges with Venom. From this point, it's a mixture of action and comedy as Eddie and his new friend take down bad guys while bonding with one another in weird ways. Some of the comedy doesn't always work though, as certain scenes would have worked better if Fleischer had taken things a bit more seriously.

The action sequences are mostly good, except for the final fight between Venom and his archrival Riot, which looks indecipherable at times. Watching Venom take down loads of bad guys trying to shoot him followed by an intense car chase was fun though.

Tom Hardy throws in a 110% performance as Eddie, being very convincing as the confused and crazy guy he becomes after Venom merges with him. I've always thought of Hardy as a major tough guy on screen, but here he is superb as the everyman who isn't ready to become something entirely different. Michelle Williams plays Hardy's defacto love interest with great enthusiasm, but as expected, the script doesn't allow her to do much. Riz Ahmed is slimy enough as Drake, the billionaire who brought the symbiotes to Earth in the first place.

I'd also like to note that my home country Malaysia is featured here, though they were probably never here to film those scenes. The Malay language spoken could use some polishing though.

Overall, Venom is a pretty entertaining comicbook film. It can't compete with the MCU's best for sure, but it is very far from the train wreck everyone says it is. Go check this out. (7.5/10)