ReelBob: ‘Venom’ ★★½
By Bob Bloom
Tom Hardy has played heroes and villains. In “Venom,” he scores a first and plays a savior.
The feature introduces a Marvel character who, in the comic books, has battled Spider-Man several times.
Here, though, the character leans more protagonist than antagonist.
If you were expecting “Venom” to be your typical superhero movie, you might be disappointed.
It begins with ominous fanfare and the camera panning through deep space. It’s an opening sequence we have seen numerous times over the years, even as recently as “The Predator.”
A spacecraft comes into view, and the camera swings, showing the ship heading toward Earth. It suffers some sort of malfunction and crashes into a jungle in Malaysia.
From there, the movie follows the usual sci-fi tropes — something alien has been freed and begins creating havoc.
The scene then shifts to San Francisco, where we meet investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Hardy), whose video blogs uncover shenanigans and dirty dealings in and around the city.
After an assignment to interview a mogul named Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) goes wrong and costs Eddie his job, his life spirals downward.
His fiancé, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), leaves him because his actions led to her firing.
And Eddie cannot find work.
But then a scientist working for Drake contacts him, and his existence is soon drastically altered.
Sneaking into Drake’s laboratory, Eddie accidentally frees an alien symbiote that was on the doomed spacecraft.
Eddie becomes the symbiote’s host. And here is where “Venom” screeches its brakes and makes a very sharp and hard left turn.
Up to this time, the movie has been your standard superhero origin feature.
It now veers into “Deadpool”-like violent comedy, which puts Hardy squarely in the spotlight.
Not only is he completely flummoxed, but learns that the symbiote, named Venom, has taken control of his mind and body.
Venom and Eddie begin talking to each other, bickering like an extraterrestrial odd couple or a contemporary Dr. Jekyll and Alien Hyde.
As Eddie, Hardy sounds like he is doing one of those exercises in which an actor practices pronunciation with marbles in his mouth. His Venom voice sounds like Darth Vader trying to burb.
Their back-and-forth basically consists of Eddie pleading with Venom to leave his body, while Venom tells Eddie he feels comfortable inside him and — oh, look — dig these cool things we can now do — including biting off the heads of various Drake minions.
The movie contains many droll moments such as when Venom tells Eddie that they are very alike because, like Eddie, Venom was perceived as a loser on its planet.
Hardy’s verbal and physical performance elevates “Venom” from the preposterous, transforming it into a delightful, albeit silly, action comedy. Yes, you can call it “Lethal Alien,” with Hardy inhabiting Riggs and Murtaugh.
Thankfully, director Ruben Fleischer embraces the laughs, allowing them to freely flow.
That vibe, plus Hardy’s prowess, make “Venom” a surprisingly delicious feature. It isn’t art — just basic entertaining moviegoing.
I am a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
VENOM
2½ stars out of 4
(PG-13), intense science-fiction violence and action, language