The opening of a film is often used to set the tone for what will proceed. With Venom the entire first act is, well, boring! We spend half an hour (Felt like 2 hours!) getting to know the central characters, which would be fine, if they were worth getting to know. Riz Ahmed stars as Charlton Drake, a multimillionaire who takes advantage of the desperation of others to use them as lab rats. I never liked him, or disliked him, I felt completely indifferent. His motivation is never really made clear and it’s just another case of an evil prick being an evil prick for the sake of it.
Even worse was Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, Eddie Brock’s fiancée. The relationship between her and Eddie, Tom Hardy, never feels believable. They talk like two strangers who have just met in a bar. They then break up and she shows no signs of emotion or upset. In truth I think the problem stems from a poor script and poor direction.
The only thing I did find entertaining was the comedic delivery of the relationship between Eddie and Venom. When the two first meet there are a number of humorous interactions between them as they learn about one another. Even in this it feels slightly strange the way Venom goes from evil alien wanting to eat human kind to protecting the world from his own kind. It all just feels a little hard to believe, leaving me feeling like the time was spent focusing on all the wrong things.
My biggest let down was the final action sequence. After being treat to a few enjoyable scenes with Venom it finishes with a fight between Venom and another Symbiote, Riot. The fight is difficult to follow and often just looks like two balls of goo fighting.
The Phat Nerd Score:
4/10 Mediocre
The Phat Nerd 