It is an understatement to say that Marvel has been kicking a** this year with fantastic movie releases from Avengers Infinity War, Black Panther, Antman and The Wasp, and now a movie about one of the greatest villains in comic history. Prior to watching the movie I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing what the movie results could possibly be from the trailer and comics. What I realized with several movies is that the trailers don’t always give you a lead way into forming a small opinion if it’s a good movie or not. I cringe when I talk about a movie trailer with a coworker and their response is “It doesn’t look like it’s going to be good.” A trailer is meant to tease the audience into going to see the movie. When I watched the Venom trailer, I was instantly reeled in because they chose the right guy to play him and it’s a fricken movie about a Villian! In all honesty, I actually like Spider-Man’s villains more than I like Spiderman (Don’t hate me). It is truly refreshing to see something different in comic films especially something that doesn’t involve a popular Protagonist getting the glory and the girl. In fact, this movie was the complete opposite of that.

In the movie, Venom came about on earth from a comet containing three specimens looking for signs of life, but they weren’t the only ones who wanted to look for signs of life. The Life Foundation Space Probe sought out the opportunity to collect the symbiotes from the comet which originally contained three in which one got away and bonded with a human to find a fitting host. Like the Dr.Skirth explained in the movie, the bonding between the symbiote and the host is like a kidney transplant. They must be compatible in order to live, unfortunately, a bunny was the first victims of the laboratory testings. We know Venom as a villain, but it turned out that Carlton Drake was the real villain. Testing these symbiotes on humans became the beginning of a domino death at the hands of Mr. Drake. Dr.Skirt however, did not want to stand by and watch innocent people volunteer their bodies as unknown sacrifices to create a long lasting life for others in space. Tom Hardy also known as Eddie Brock in the film is a Journalist, former fiance to Anne who is a lawyer, and a loser. His obsession with taking down the bad guys through media has cost him the job, apartment, and love of his life, but with the help of Venom, he became irresistible. He dug up the dirt about Carlton Drake’s studies and brought it to the media through his show, but without hard evidence, his boss was left with no choice but to release him. Like Eddie Venom identified himself as a loser from his planet, but I guess two losers make a hell of a team. Eventually, Eddie was recruited by Dora Skirth to stop Carlton Drake, but he ended up releases the symbiote known as Venom out of containment and into his body. I admired their relationship in the movie because apart they are vulnerable and together they are stronger than ever. The humor in the movie added a lighter side to the story, well I can’t say eating people’s heads of is funny, but hs interactions with Eddie was. In some ways, Venom reminded me of the hormone monsters from “Big Mouth”. They are always talking to you and making you do things that you really don’t want to do. Venom doesn’t like to be referred to as a parasite, yet he forced Eddie to scarf down so many tater tots and heads. As I watched the movie, I thought that Eddie was going to get romantically involved with Dr. Skirth since his ex-fiance moved on from him, but sadly she did not live because Carlton killed her with a symbiote. I was a little disappointed about her death because she didn’t get that much screen time as a character like I thought she deserved. Eventually, Eddie/Venom was left with no choice, but to take on Carlton Drake before he brought more symbiotes on earth that would lead to more death.

My favorite scene was the scene when Eddie rode his motorcycle to escape Drake’s goons with the help of Venom, it was very exciting. Usually, my favorite scenes in a comic based film is always the last fighting scene, but it wasn’t interesting as I hoped it would be. I felt like the scene would have lasted a little longer to build up to the epic ending. Some critics described this film confusing in a way which is understandable, but in order to truly understand the Story of Venom, you have to look back at some of the comics. Not everyone is into comics or can keep up with reading a certain series continuously. The movie was more so filled with Irony than confusion. I was expecting the movie to be about Venom being bad and doing bad things, but it turns out the only real bad things about him was his desire to bite heads off and devour them. It was ironic to find out that the real bad guy wears a suit and tie, works at a Life Foundation that’s causing death, and promising a long lasting life to innocent people who are already ill. It was also ironic that Venom claimed to be a loser like Eddie and that’s what made them compatible. Let’s not forget the fact that Venom had also exploded in the end with Carlton and the other symbiote yet still lived in Eddie. There are so many questions that I have after watching this film, but I have a feeling that the second movie will tell it all. It wasn’t a bad movie, but it wasn’t the movie I expected it to be. I believe this movie deserves 3/5. Although it wasn’t what I expected it to be, it was actioned packed and humorous. Nevertheless, I don’t think it was a waste of my time and money.

Here are some question I had after watching the movie:

  • What happened to the third symbiote?

  • Will Anne leave Dan to get Eddie back?

  • If Venom lived from the explosion, did the other symbiote live?

  • Why didn’t they show what made Venom a bad guy in the first place?

  • Does Venom like anything else besides tots and heads?