Another superhero film in what appears to be a never-ending list of films like it is here. Whether it be DC or Marvel, I wonder if is it good to have all these movies because there are some people (like yours truly) that are learning of old comic book characters that we really never knew existed. However, the big question I have is, when is enough really enough?
“Venom” is the new film directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) and in the title role is Tom Hardy (Inception) along with Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea), Jenny Slate (Gifted), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), Reid Scott (Great News), and Ron Cephas Jones (This is Us). Eddie Brock (Venom’s human form) is an investigative journalist who is looking into multi-billionaire Carlton Drake (Ahmed). During an interview with Drake, Eddie asks some tough and uncomfortable questions which later got him fired (with Drake’s influence) while Drake is working on a space mission where a ship returns from a comet with four foreign life forms he is trying to keep hush-hush. Drake feels if these life forms were integrated with humans, they would be able to survive in other conditions off Earth and breaks every humane protocol which kill some of the human subjects. Eddie later meets up with Dr. Dora Skirth (Slate), who works working for Drake and wants to stop him. She gets Eddie into the lab to get proof, and at that point he gets infected by one of the organisms, making him into the iconic character.
This film has a ton of CGI, which is pretty much the standard with all Marvel films, and is paired with a visual style that is good and helps the mood of the film. The supporting cast does a good job for this type of film, but I will give a shout-out to Ahmed, whose evil and ruthless businessman is a great “bad guy” of sorts. Hardy also does a great job in the role of a person who gets superhuman power and may not really be understanding what may be going on. His style of sometimes not caring and just doing what is right at the time enhanced his performance.
The film is not your normal “superhero stops bad dude who is trying to destroy the Earth or Universe” that we are all used to. Venom may be a villain, but he is also a bit of an anti-hero. At just under two hours, it is about the right length without adding another twenty minutes of mindless action to make the movie hit an expected run time. As per normal, there are two tags in the credits, at the midway point and at the very end. Even without the “Greek cred,” I did enjoy this film and will recommend this film as twilight showing in the theaters.