Stumbled onto Venom

                                                       

Venom had been an emotional roller coaster for me prior to its release. I was initially excited because Tom Hardy, I was then skeptical as it would be separate from the Spiderverse (not sure if I am using the term correctly), then disappointed at the trailer which looked generic and boring for 2018 superhero standards and ultimately disinterested as bad reviews came roaming in. However, there was a free Venom ticket with my name on it so I did go see it and I am glad I did.

I would like to make one thing clear; the critics were right. I am aware of this new trend to discredit critics because they are overly critical (?), they don’t reflect the audience views and have it out for mainstream movies. But their work is to assess a movie compared to its peers, in this case the MCU and DCEU, and put all this movie-watching experience they have to some use. Of course people would go see Venom; it starred Tom Hardy, it is a popular character, there was plenty of pop culture controversy and Eminem did a Jimmy Kimmel segment in the Empire State building for the soundtrack. That does not mean it is a good movie. The visuals were unacceptable for 2018, the dialogues were so cheesy it made the visuals look good and the plot was poor too. And, unpopular opinion, Eminem’s song was also unacceptable, cheesy and poor.

So, the critics were right. But the audience was right too. Because I had fun. It was not a good movie but it had tons of potential. The moments between Venom and Eddie Brock were so fucking enjoyable, I didn’t care about any of it. They were hilarious, they made sense, they were well acted out by Hardy and did I mention they were hilarious? I walked out of that movie thinking the critics were objectively right, but I can’t wait for the next one! I read the term ‘buddy comedy’ somewhere and I think that is appropriate. Also, while I know many didn’t think much of Riz Ahmed’s limited performance but personally I think kudos are in order for Ahmed, who had the coldest, most villainous, detached reactions in this movie, I very much enjoyed him as the Elon Musk-esque bad guy.

So yeah, it was a messy, messy movie and perhaps it was enjoyable for all the wrong reasons; many claim that the funny moments were unintentional considering how unintelligent the rest of the plot was. But I am a bit more optimistic, I think it is a work in the making and that the next one will be as fun but better and the one after that will be even more fun and even better. And there is something about not having your typical, fine-tuned superhero movie that appealed to my nerdy side; of course it is silly and stupid and badly made but you love it like the nerd you are. Plus, Tom Hardy. I’ve watched him drive for one and a half hours and it was fantastic.