Movie Review - Venom

So everyone knows the deal with Sony with the Marvel properties they had and still have the rights to. They began well with three Spider-Man films with at least one of them being considered as one of the greatest superhero films of all time. They also did films based on Men in Black (of which was made via the Marvel imprint Malibu) and Ghost Rider with the former having done considerably well and the latter not so much. After the original Spider-Man trilogy, plans for a fourth film were made, but ended up being scraped in favour of a reboot that would be known as The Amazing Spider-Man which only ever consisted of two films due to Sony not really sure on what to do following that film which had a lot of false promises made. Around this point, Ghost Rider would've been sold back to Marvel who in turn would then offer a 50/50 deal for Sony. The deal would be to allow Spider-Man and not all but some of his related characters to be featured in the MCU with Sony distributing all his solo films with help from Marvel Studios. So with all that said and done, we then got word of Sony starting their own little cinematic universe with all or most of the other Marvel characters they have got with the universe occasionally connecting to the MCU. So here we have the first of those films which features the titular well known Spider-Man villain who in recent years has been considered an anti-hero. So let's see how Sony managed with this one:

So we all know about the ongoing issue of overpopulation and scientists are looking into finding a new habitable world moving forward. The film begins with that concept with the fictional Life Corporation having sent a probe to do just that. The probe returns with four samples of symbiotic lifeforms, but somehow one of the samples escapes causing the probe to crash into Malaysia. In San Francisco, we meet investigative journalist Eddie Brock (played by a man who uses far too many masks, Tom Hardy) who following a interview with the head of Life Corporation filled with accusations and other things, is struggling with life. Having lost his job, his girlfriend (who subsequently lost her job too) and the respect of many people living in his home town, he tries to forget it all. But when he is invited to Life Corporation in an attempt to stop their secret plans, he bonds with one of the symbiotes and becomes the titular Venom and the pair soon learn a thing about each other before terrorising the world around them.

The best way to describe this film is that its a horror film mixed with super villain nonsense and pop fun. Despite what critics have said, this film is actually pretty good. Tom Hardy acts really well as expected, Venom actually looks like the Venom we know and love (unlike Spider-Man 3's take on him) minus the spider like logo for obvious reasons and its fun. Sure it may be a bit loud and sure the scripting and story could do with some more work and the appearance of Venom does take a while for sure. But it does feel very much like the Venom film we were hoping for. Its not a perfect film that I can agree with the critics on, but its not as bad as they make out. The visuals are great, the 3D side of it does work, but can be a bit flat. And with the exception of one credits scene which is there more to promote the upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film than anything else, there is no mention or appearance of Spider-Man thus making the film focused solely on what we fans would want it to focus on. Plus I look forward to seeing other Marvel characters in future Sony films. 8/10