Venom (2018) is directed by Ruben Fleischer and stars Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, Scott Haze, Melora Walters, Peggy Lu, Malcolm C. Murray, Sope Aluko, and Wayne Pere. The film takes place in Sony’s Spiderman universe and follows Eddie Brock (Hardy), a hotshot NYC reporter who finds himself bonded to a symbiotic alien after investigating a suspicious mega-corporation. After a strange and painful bodily transition, Eddy and Venom team up to stop the corporation’s maniacal founder, Carlton Drake (Ahmed). 

The dialogue here is mostly painful, resulting in performances that range from boring to downright bad. Thankfully, Tom Hardy’s goofy and energetic turn as Eddie/Venom is what saves the movie from being a generic piece of superhero sludge. The film works best when his performance is given time to shine. When it focuses on action or anything too serious, it’s pretty much a snoozefest. Thankfully, the good stuff is about two-thirds of the runtime. That being said, it’s a movie that I would consider to be “so bad, it’s good.” Hardy realizes this and plays into it perfectly. It’s also nice that he’s able to give Eddie and Venom two distinct personalities that are both a lot of fun.  It’s too bad that this performance is coupled Riz Ahmed’s Carlton Drake – one of the more generically bland villains in a genre filled with them.

The comedy featured is often low-brow and childish, but again, there’s something about it that is inexplicably enjoyable. I think this is because the characters featured, even the flesh-eating alien, have a lot of heart. The energy may not be intelligent or complex, but it’s genuine. The movie doesn’t want to be heavy to an almost comical extent. For example, Michelle Williams’s character breaks up with Eddie and then starts dating someone new about a day later. You’d think this would cause some conflict, but the new boyfriend is a nice guy and Eddie handles it pretty well all things considered.

The script feels somewhat unique due to the comedy and fun body-horror elements. Beyond that, it’s pretty much a typical superhero movie whose story is something we’ve seen 100 times before. On top of this, it features one of the worst CGI climaxes I’ve seen and is essentially two black piles of sludge fighting in the dark. Does that sound easy to see?  

Overall, this is objectively a bad movie, but is easily elevated to cult status by its strange but effective lead performance. The comedy works, and against all odds, it ends up being an entertaining experience. This never should have worked, but Sony caught lightning in a bottle. In a way, I almost wish they wouldn’t have. Then we most likely wouldn’t have gotten crap like Morbius (2022) or Madame Web (2024). Oh well. It’s nothing special, but it’s fun. I feel similarly to this movie as I do about the Aquaman films. If this is your kind of genre, and your expectations are set right, check it out. C+