I'm in. Here's my movie content review from a few weeks back...
Eddie Brock, a no-holds-barred investigative journalist played by Tom Hardy, loses his job, his home, his respect, and his fiancée when he uses a confidential email source to blow the whistle on Carlton Drake, a ruthless CEO played by Riz Ahmed, and his bioengineering firm. Six months later, he is given a chance to redeem his career when he receives a tip from a scientist in Drake's laboratory and is allowed entry into the facility in order to expose the firm for conducting fatal experiments on homeless people. While inside the laboratory, Brock is inadvertently exposed to a symbiotic alien species, and he is subsequently besieged by mysterious symptoms, including superhuman agility, incredible strength, and an inexplicable voice inside his head. This unwelcome presence, which calls itself “Venom”, soon overtly manifests itself to its human host, and the two of them are drawn together in a newfound life purpose against a diabolical common enemy.
Venom, a 2018 entry for the Sony Pictures Marvel Universe, has received a harshly negative reception from critics and from many comic book fans who are upset this adaptation sidesteps its Spider-Man origin story by jumping ahead to focus on the Brock character. After watching it this afternoon, however, I'm wondering if the critics and I actually saw the same movie. There is plenty of silliness and subpar computer effects to be seen here, but the end result, like an ugly dog from a local rescue shelter, has an undeniably likable charm that makes it welcome at home even though it chews up everything around it.
The normally taciturn and withdrawn Hardy is the centerpiece here, and his gleefully embracing acceptance of the outlandish material at hand pumps oxygen into a narrative that would have been dead in the water had it been attempted by a more earnest actor. Ahmed, whom most recognize for his role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, effectively conveys his character's megalomaniac brilliance. Finally, Michelle Williams, who displayed some serious acting chops in the 2016 drama, Manchester by the Sea, squeezes an impressive amount of juice from an underwritten role as Brock's ex.
A lengthy middle sequence, where Brock fully realizes the new abilities bestowed by his Venom symbiote while battling armed henchmen who have invaded his apartment and leading them on a chase through the city, wins my vote as one of the most joyfully adrenalized cinematic experiences of the year. Brock's relationship with the alien in his body will inevitably draw comparisons to a slightly darker treatment of similar subject matter in the science fiction horror film, Upgrade, which was released earlier in 2018, but the uncanny lightheartedness of Venom makes the plot developments all its own.
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Venom (2018)
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