Venom Movie Review – 3/5 stars

We are Venom

“Venom” tells the story of Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), a reporter sent to interview Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), founder of the Life Foundation. While investigating the lab, Eddie discovers the symbiotes, puddles of goop that are alive and move around, that the Life Foundation recovered from space and he accidentally bonds with one. This symbiote, Venom, gives Eddie enhanced speed and strength allowing him to escape the lab. To survive, Venom needs Eddie as a host, so when the Life Foundation hunts him down to retrieve the symbiote, Venom takes control of Eddie’s body to protect both of them.

“Venom” was directed by Ruben Fleischer and released Oct. 5 in theaters. According to IMDb, Venom made $80,255,756 opening weekend in the US and has a total gross US of $142,108,258. I went into this one thinking it would be just OK and that was about right. I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars and say that unless you’re a big Venom/Spider-Man fan or just like some cool sci-fi action, you could probably sit this one out. Don’t get me wrong, it was entertaining. I liked the cool symbiote action scenes, and there were some funny dialogue scenes between Eddie and Venom, but other than that, there wasn’t much character development and the story was kind of weak.

I thought it was interesting that they altered Venom’s origin story from first bonding with Spider-Man, but I don’t think that would’ve helped the story line much. And given that “Venom” is not a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they would’ve had to cast yet another Spider-Man, and that just wasn’t called for for this type of movie. “Venom” actually reminded me a lot of “Upgrade”, which came out a few months ago, with the story and even the actor playing the main character. But I’ve got to admit, I enjoyed “Upgrade” a little more. I think it had a better story, cooler action scenes and better “funny dialogue” between the host and the one controlling his body. While “Venom” was entertaining, I would hold off on seeing it if you are having second thoughts about it. If you really want to go see it, then do it, despite what the critics say. It won’t be the best movie you’ll ever see, but it is definitely cool seeing Venom in live-action and it had some great special effects.