Venom review: Tom Hardy's superhero is saucy and macho but has no verve

Charlotte Osullivan5 October 2018

This origin movie, about one of Spider-Man’s on-off foes, has a moody track from Eminem.

Listen out for the line: “I’m loco/ Became a Symbiote, so/ My fangs are in your throat, ho”. “Symbiote” is surely the most cumbersome word in pop-culture history, so top marks for shoe-horning it in with gusto. Alas, the blockbuster itself has no such verve.

What even is a Symbiote? For those unfamiliar with Marvel comics, all you need to know is that Venom is a predatory, dark-hued alien life-force, able to merge gelatinously with humans in a way that either kills them or makes them stronger.

In the case of San Francisco-based journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), Venom turns out to be super-useful, allowing him to evade an endless number of goons sent by evil billionaire Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), who wants to play — what else? — God.

It makes sense that the ever-brilliant Hardy, an actor fascinated by insecurity, creepy co-dependence and the urge to destroy, would be drawn to Eddie and Venom. But he’s cheated by a script determined to emphasise the pair’s virtues.

In the comics, Eddie is paranoid, petty and, you know, venomous, which is why the alien bonds so intensely with him. In the film, Eddie is angry, but justifiably so; he only betrays the trust of loved ones when there’s no other way to protect the powerless. Yawn!

Venom is as cuddly, ultimately, as Fozzie Bear (he bites people’s heads off but in a way that we’re encouraged to find hilarious). That said, he and Eddie do engage in some nice banter. The female characters, by contrast, are earnest to a fault.

An entire plot thread (involving the progress of a Symbiote even bigger than Venom), seems like an after-thought. And the big set-piece — a CGI battle between two aliens — is spectacularly anonymous.

The film can’t compete with anything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sony, overly intent on empire-building, has jettisoned a crucial ingredient: bite. It was taken as read that there would be sequels. Not any more.

Says Venom to Eddie: “We can do whatever we like!” I wouldn’t bet on it.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in