Venom

K-12 | 1h 52min | 2 October 2018 (Germany) | Director: Ruben Fleischer

Admittedly, without this old Spiderman 3 movie I would not know anything about this character Venom. The only reason for me to watch this movie was – Tom Hardy. I simply like him a lot, not only for his brilliant revival of Mad Max – he even turned a plot “dude drives around in a car and talks to people on the phone” breathtaking and exciting (Locke). What could possibly go wrong here?

That’s right, absolutely nothing. Or more precisely, nothing concerning Hardy. It’s not a perfect movie but definitely not as bad as some early reviews make you think. Actually it’s quite entertaining, a film that stands alone (almost completely) outside the Spiderman-Universe, a story easy to follow even for those who have never heard about Venom before. As reluctant anti-hero Hardy’s character, the journalist Eddie Brock, has much more in common with Deadpool than with e.g. Spiderman. Brock is chaotic, untidy, driven, egoistic and egomaniac – and so not amused about his new abilities coming with his alien symbiote…

Hardy is so intense in his portrayal of a likable loser that you could almost smell the … umm, chaos. Hence the cast can only partly keep up with him, surprisingly it’s rather Jenny Slate (as Dr. Dora Skirth) than love-interest “Anne Weying” Michelle Williams.

Which takes us to the negative aspects – some of the dialogue /scenes I simply could not buy – yet I am not sure if it’s really the actors’ fault, and there serious plot holes, either caused by sloppy writing or damage done in the editing room. Maybe it’s the latter as for me the movie felt “too short” …

Summing up, yes, there are some flaws, but the movie is absolutely worth to watch – not only because of Hardy, but surely I don’t mind seeing him as Venom again soon…