REVIEW: 'Venom' is the perfect anti-hero antidote

Venom, directed by Ruben Fleischer

I know I’m WAYYY late on the Venom bandwagon, but do yourself a favour: turn off your brain and go watch this hilarious and harmless superhero flick featuring the best bromance since Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.

Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock, a kind of shock jockey TV journalist, who is assigned by his bigwig editor to do a fluff piece on Elon Musk-esque entrepreneur/philanthropist Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed). Brock focuses on Drake’s nefarious experiments on humans at his company, the Life Foundation, but promptly gets canned from his job when Drake cuts the interview short. It definitely starts off like any other origin film – the main character is at his lowest point – and along with some tacky dialogue with Michelle Williams it kinda trudges along.

Jenny Slate plays Drake’s No. 2, the loyal lead scientist who gets hit by a truckload of guilty conscience, so she helps Brock break into the labs where he comes in contact with a living, moving black goo and gains superpowers. The black goo introduces itself as Venom, and manifests into a hilarious, jacked-up, Spider-Man-looking fellow, and that’s when the fun really begins.

If you’ve ever seen Hardy in Bronson, Locke or Legend, you know he has the ability to play multiple characters, and the back-and-forth between Brock and Venom is sharp, funny and ultimately what keeps you most invested in the film. At an hour and 52 minutes, it’s the perfect length for a superhero film; anything more than that, you’re either directing an ensemble Avengers film or trying too hard to be the next Christopher Nolan.

Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake.

Sure, certain plot points are VERY convenient, the tone is a bit of a mess (partially because it never settles on anything before moving on) and the dialogue would be cringeworthy if not for the credibility the actors bring, but it moves along at such a quick pace it doesn’t allow you to dwell on things. The cast is relatively small, which is great because it allows you to get to know them a little more – even if they can be quite bland – but there’s enough variety for each character to have their moment.

I appreciate the fact that Venom isn’t bogged down by melodrama like in Infinity War, and makes no real attempt to address any politics like Black Panther, bringing the superhero (anti-hero?) genre back to its all fun, no-frills roots. It’s campy, more Sam Raimi than the Russo brothers, but just as how Ant-Man was refreshing, Venom definitely is as well.

It’s been years since I last watched Ruben Fleischer’s breakout hit Zombieland, but I distinctly remember that part of its charm was its seamless blending of genres and tones, and he’s got a knack for it. I won’t criticize him as much as other critics for its inconsistent tone. I think it works well most of the time in Venom.

Sony’s always wanted their own franchise, and whether you like it or not, it seems like they have. It’ll never be critically acclaimed but all they ever wanted was to get a hit and make money anyway, and Venom’s done quite well. The mid-credits scene certainly got me more hyped to see the next film. I actually can’t wait.

 Venom gets three stars out of four.