Tom Hardy Plays the Popular Spider-Man Antihero 

DIRECTED BY RUBEN FLEISCHER/2018

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is an Investigative Journalist trying to get his game back together. In the process of doing this he picks up a bug, or a parasite, if you will. But this parasite is actually an alien symbiote that is in need of a host-  and Eddie is just the guy for this non-stop entertaining adventure in the all-new/reboot/origin story of Venom.

I’m not a big fan of the origin story for most comic book characters but this one comes together fairly well, as it doesn’t focus on getting everyone up to speed with all the side characters and backstory of our main characters, Eddie and the oozy living symbiote, Venom. Sure, we do get the backstory- but mostly it is injected into the conversations of various characters as the story plays out, as opposed to in some ten-minute flashback scenes.

As a somewhat knowledgeable Venom fan, I believe the film’s PG-13 rating did get in the way, lacking darkness; but that probably led the writers to focus on the good number of laughs that went to slapstick on occasion. There are belly laughs to be had at a few of the scenes. But, with the darkness missing, we don’t get into Venom’s mindspace as he dialogues with Eddie.

CGI effects come to life, moving and crawling around in a very fluid manner.

I enjoyed having San Francisco as the setting for this Sony/Marvel movie, a refreshing change of locale from the usual New York City.  This is in keeping for Director Ruben Fleischer, who’s previous films Zombieland and Gangster Squad are rooted firmly in Los Angeles.  All the while, Venom and a second symbiote look great; CGI effects come to life, moving and crawling around in a very fluid manner.  The supporting cast of characters played by talented actors Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed and Reid Scott make this world all the more plausible.  

As the movie came to a close and credits rolled, I was drawn into the visuals …. The Venom effects in particular prove a great way to close the film out.

Go see the movie and have a laugh with Venom.