Venom, the other Marvel Movie (Or the "oh, yeah, Sony still has some spider-man rights" fi

Venom isn't a cinematic masterpiece. It isn't award-winning, it's not very well written. It has terrible jokes and cheesy lines. The characters are flat, some have no arcs, while others seem to just become worse as the movie progresses. The Films CGI is sub-par and the plot is a mess, the film is filled with odd cuts and confusing jumps to confusing scenes. However, it is fun, and that alone is what makes it worth watching, so please, go see it if you haven't.

The action is much grittier than most other Marvel films but doesn't fall into DC's self-parody of gratuitous violence. While some of the action scenes where a mess, it was very enjoyable to watch. Even when the action didn't have a clear goal, everything felt by the core motivation of the film: Survive. While it can be confusing, the design makes you want more. As you watch these action scenes, you want more to happen. You just want more Carnage. (pun intended)

Tom Hardy is one of the main reasons this film thrives. He is a blast to watch. You can tell they told him to just go wild with his character. While Hardy is normally a much more reserved actor, allowing moments to build with proper pacing, here he is all over the place. Normally it would be the fault of the director, however, Ruben Fleischer has proven himself with Zombieland, it's more likely the script being at fault, or the editing.

The script is all over the place, however any time a script has three or more people attached as writers, it's a clear sign of meddling and issues with direction. As well as the fact that none of the writers seem to have many credits on any action films, let alone superhero films. It takes way too long before Venom is seen on screen. It's clear none of the police stand a chance against Venom, and while watching him fight them, it feels wrong.

While I enjoyed the film as a "Bloody Discussing Body Horror" and as a "Buddy Cop" film, I wish they focused more on those things. The R rating didn't feel earned. More like it was attached to it so it could be like Deadpool. Venom eating people’s heads off was barely shown. The Buddy cop aspect was interesting, but it wasn't pushed. Several moments when Eddie lost the Symbiote, it felt like he should have just quit. Venom needed Eddie, Eddie seemed better off without Venom, I wish there was much more at stake for Eddie to lose.

The film could have also cut out a lot of the introductory parts. The film kept setting up problems, only to be resolved moments later, but were relevant to set up the core problem. The film wasted so much time with pointless day to day drama. An alien creature designed to consume all life on earth is set loose, but we need to go back to Brock being a report or his relationship.

Venom starts off slow, following Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) through this normal life as a reporter with his girlfriend, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) a high profile lawyer. However, he quickly discovers proof that the man he is reporting on the next day, Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) has been doing some extremely shady things to progress his company. When Eddie tries to report in this, Drake cuts him off and has him blacklisted as a reporter. When one of Drake's scientists realizes this she contacts Brock and lets him inside the lap to report on the issue.

The film also as a second running plot where another Symbiote uses a survivor from the spaceship crash at the beginning of the film to travel to CA so he can travel back into space. This is more quick-cuts than actual plot progression. While it is explained I feel it's the biggest let down in the film. However, I will get into that in more spoiler areas.

Here is where the film begins to pick up. Brock receives the Symbiote and begins his transformation into Venom. While it starts off comedic and as a joke, Eddie begins to bond with Venom and transform with him into a more powerful creature.

*SPOILERS*

Brocks transformation is funny and dark at the same time. The action scenes with Venom are brutal. Watching Eddie talk to himself is entertaining, and him arguing with Venom is hilarious. It's clearly improvised, and it's amazing.

Also, remember that Symbiote from the crash? Okay, so that turns out to be Riot, the Symbiote leader. Riot is trying to get back into space to bring more Symbiotes back to earth to consume all life. This is the plot that has been building and while it's interesting, it's brought in way too late in the story. While the film works hard at removing the "bigger bad arriving at the eleventh hour" trope, it feels pointless. Riot still comes out of the blue, completely unexpected. While Venom has a connection to the character, its explained at last minute and has no relation to Eddie.

While the ending battle is fun, and I wish there were more Symbiotes or more special forces that actually stood a chance against venom. There was nothing for him to physically overcome. I feel like the story could have been more interesting with "Life Foundations" mercenaries if they had more interesting tech than exploding drones and black SUVs.

*END SPOILERS*

Overall, if you love action films, or Superhero films and are tired of the standard 'Marvel movie' this movie is worth watching. Hopefully, Sony will put more work into their writing team for their next film.