Venom (2018) Film Review

Sony Pictures

VENOM

Starring Tom Hardy (Eddie Brock / Venom), Michelle Williams (Anne Weying), and Riz Ahmed (Carlton Drake / Riot), with a special appearance by Stan Lee and a credits scene featuring Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Amy Pascal

Written by Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel

Music by Ludwig Goransson

Distributed by Sony Pictures

Run Time: 1 hour and 52 minutes

World Premier: October 1, 2018, in Los Angeles, California

Opening Weekend Box Office: $80 million (North America)

Worldwide Box Office: $856 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 30%

Sony Pictures

Fun Venom Facts

In the Spring of 2017, Sony Pictures announced that they were developing a Shared Cinematic Universe that would be known as Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Sony made their first Spider-Man trilogy from 2002-2007, then rebooted the franchise from 2012-2014, before striking a revolutionary deal with Marvel Studios in 2015 to bring Spider-Man into The Walt Disney Company’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. Venom was the first film that was announced to be set in this new Cinematic Universe.

2018 marked the 30^th Anniversary of the Venom character, who was created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane in 1988.

Tom Hardy recorded his lines for the Venom symbiote during pre-production and the lines were played back to him through an earpiece on set during scenes where Brock and the symbiote speak to each other.

In the Marvel comics, the Venom Symbiote first bonded with Peter Parker when Peter was off world. In 2007’s Spider-Man 3, Venom bonded with Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker first before later bonding with Topher Grace’s Eddie Brock. No version of Peter Parker appears in Venom, as the Venom Symbiote bonds with Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock, completely bypassing Spider-Man. It is for this reason that Venom’s trademark white spider insignia is absent from his look in this film.

Venom is a fully CGI creation in Venom.

John Jameson appears as an astronaut in Venom that briefly bonds with a Symbiote. Chris O’Hara portrays Jameson, who is the son of J Jonah Jameson, who does not appear in Venom. Jameson appeared previously in Sony’s Spider-Man 2, portrayed by Daniel Gillies and almost marrying Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson. In the comics, John Jameson goes on to become The Man-Wolf; a werewolf-like creature.

Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in Venom as a man walking his dog. Lee overhears Eddie Brock’s conversation with the Venom symbiote and encourages Eddie to keep his relationship with Anne Weying thriving. The Venom symbiote is attracted to Lee’s dog (for food), and asks Eddie, “Who is that guy?” concerning Lee. This was the final Marvel movie cameo of Stan Lee’s lifetime. Lee died on November 12, 2018, just over a month after the release of Venom and prior to his cameo appearances in Marvel Studios’ 2019 films Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame. Stan made a total of 22 MCU cameos for Marvel Studios from 2008-2019, and Venom marked his sixth cameo for Sony Pictures within Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

Venom was the seventh highest-grossing film of 2018.

On Wednesday, April 21, 2021, the Walt Disney Company and Sony Pictures reached a groundbreaking deal to bring all of Sony’s Spider-Man films to Disney+ where they would exist alongside other Marvel Cinematic Universe films for viewing by Disney+ subscribers. This deal was said to include not only Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, but Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man Trilogy from 2002-2007, and both Amazing Spider-Man films from 2012 and 2014, in addition to the Venom films.

2021’s sequel to Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage featured a groundbreaking credits scene which saw Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his Venom symbiote get transported into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making both Venom films canon to the MCU via the Multiverse. 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home revealed that this occurred due to a botched magical spell cast by the sorcerer Doctor Stephen Strange in a failed attempt to erase the minds of everyone in his Universe in a way that would cause everyone to forget that the MCU 616-Universe’s Spider-Man was Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. Instead of that happening, the barriers between worlds were shattered, and people from throughout the Multiverse that knew Peter Parker’s secret were pulled into the 616-Universe. Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock / Venom was one such entity, as Venom shares a hive symbiotic mind with its species that reaches beyond Multiversal boundaries. Venom knew Peter Parker’s secret because an alternate version of itself learned it before dying while fighting Spider-Man. This Spider-Man was portrayed by Tobey Maguire and these events were chronicled in Sony Pictures’ 2007 film Spider-Man 3. Ultimately, not much would come from Brock’s MCU crossover. The character did not appear in No Way Home until its credits, which showed Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock get sent back to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe before ever encountering any one of significance in the MCU’s 616-Universe. A small piece of the Venom Symbiote was left in the MCU 616-Universe, however, leaving the door open for Venom and Spider-Man to finally meet.

Sony Pictures

My Venom Review

Venom was released in a year that was dominated by Marvel movies as Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War and Marvel Studios’ Black Panther were the top two highest-grossing films of the year, amassing over $3 billion worldwide. Two other comic book movies featuring Marvel characters made the Top-10 as well: Venom and Deadpool 2, but neither of these films were linked to the Marvel Cinematic Universe … not at the time anyway. Thanks to events that have played out since, Venom is now part of the MCU via the Multiverse!

This is going to be one of the shortest film reviews that I’ve ever written, because there just isn’t a whole lot of depth or story to Venom. It’s a sort of tale that has been told countless times on film: some shady high-tech company (The Life Foundation) acquires some kind of dangerous specimen from outer space (Symbiotes) and against all logic and reserve, brings the specimen back to Earth where humanity is ultimately threatened.

Venom does not try to get complex or heavy. Its story is simple and direct, and its primary antagonist is about as one-dimensional as they come. Still, Venom has this unique sort of charm. It never shies away from what it is, and that’s a superhero monster movie with little sprinkles of humor and horror that somehow come together to be quite entertaining, if nothing else!

I had a lot of fun with Venom. This movie’s greatest strength was Tom Hardy as both Eddie Brock and Venom. It’s a little gross. It’s a little weird. It’s at times shocking and at others humorous. Some have even called Venom a love story, and I think it is exactly that. It’s a love story between Eddie and Venom and how they grow to need each other. It is Venom’s love for Eddie that changes its “Eat the World” agenda and inspires the symbiote to find something to appreciate about humanity and to even become a hero. Yes, Venom’s appetite for human brains makes him one of Marvel’s unlikeliest heroes, but one of its most interesting as well.

Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock with this nervous tick, like he is constantly about to suffer a panic attack. Eddie is a very reluctant host initially, and I loved the back-and-forth between Eddie and Venom and how that was executed. It was wonderfully adapted from the comics, and it was a brilliant decision to have Hardy voice Venom as well. Whenever Tom Hardy and Venom are on screen together, this movie is watchable and to be honest, I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this film. My expectations were very low going in and I heard a lot of negative things about it but watching this movie and eating a bowl of popcorn with my family was a fun way to spend a Saturday night, and Sony went all-in on the superhero monster movie stuff, and I think it worked!

Venom is nowhere near the quality of most of the Marvel Studios productions that we’ve gotten since 2008, but it’s not the worst comic book movie I’ve ever seen, and it isn’t even the worst Marvel movie that Sony has made. It’s worth a watch if you know what to expect going in and serves as a great introduction to a character that boasts many exciting possibilities in terms of future crossovers.

Sony Pictures

Highlights of Venom:

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom

Chemistry Between Tom Hardy and Himself

The Monstrous Look of Venom Finally Gotten Right on Film

Venom Bonds with Anne and She Bites a Guy’s Head off!

The Lobster Tank Scene

Sony’s Embrace of Marvel’s Horror Side

Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady Introduction