‘Venom’ Review: We Are A Buddy Comedy That Is Kind Of A Blast

Venom Tom Hardy

We are not here to tell you whether or not you should see Venom. We believe that you should make that decision for yourself. However, we will offer you our feelings on the film which we can say that we mostly dug. Okay. Enough of that. Time to get serious here. Venom is a film that isn’t going to work for everyone and for some very understandable reasons. The character in itself is a hard one. Sony could have gone with the gritty and edgy route but I’m definitely glad that they didn’t. Venom has some clear issues which might be due to its script clearly needing some more work. Despite any of the film’s issues though, I had a ton of fun with it and am looking forward to seeing it again.

If you’re expecting Venom to be an average superhero film, you might be disappointed. It’s far from the basic Marvel film. It’s more of a weird and twisted buddy comedy and I know that might not sound like it works but it totally does. The best parts of Venom are his and Eddie’s odd relationship and watching it roughly grow. Once Eddie is taken over by the symbiote, the film becomes immensely entertaining and engaging. There is way more humor than the marketing might have led you to believe and the film features a scene that I might argue is one of the funniest scenes I’ve seen all year. Tom Hardy absolutely crushed it as Eddie Brock/Venom and I don’t really think this film would have worked without him. They took the core basics of the character from the comics and created their own thing which I know might sound like blasphemy to some fans but just wait to see it. It works and washes the poor taste of Spider-Man 3 out of your mouth. Moving on.

If you’ve seen any of the trailers for Venom, you’ve pretty much got the basics of the story. It isn’t overly complicated and that likely works in the film’s benefit. The story is simple and fast moving. The latter though is one of the big issues Venom does face at times. While the Ruben Fleischer directed Spider-Verse film never feels like it drags, it does suffer from some major pacing issues in the start. However, once we get past a rougher first act? Things click into place and the film becomes way more fun than I was expecting walking in. When it comes to the action, that one can be kind of a mixed bag. There’s some great stuff and some mediocre. I wouldn’t say that the film’s action is lackluster but it only has a few real sequences that stand out. As for the supporting cast? They’re mostly fine. Riz Ahmed does some nice work with what he’s given and Jenny Slate has some moments. But if there’s anyone else besides Tom Hardy that makes this film work, it’s Michelle Williams as Anne Weying. I’d love to discuss her and Eddie’s relationship more but feel like that would require me to venture into spoiler territory.

Overall? I found Venom to be much more fun than I was expecting and I’m definitely planning on seeing it again in a few days. I’d gladly watch a trilogy of these weird symbiote buddy comedies. And even though Venom isn’t some groundbreaking new comic book movie, it is an enjoyable time at the movies. Isn’t that all we need sometimes? We think so. We hope you enjoy.

Are you checking out Venom this weekend? Let us know or after you’ve seen it share what you thought about Venom in the comments section below.

Shawn Madden

Shawn Madden

I write stuff. Sometimes.