This movie had gotten lots of attention in the past few weeks, especially with its trailer playing many times in theaters as well as in Television. When my wife and I saw the trailer, we were quite excited and aimed to see this on its premiere date. This time it played on a day where I did not have any trouble in reaching the cinema and I definitely wanted to enjoy it in a theater with Dolby Atmos sound system. So we managed to get the tickets for it yesterday. Well let's get on with the movie now.
Brief Story Line
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy - Dunkirk, The Dark Knight Rises etc) was an investigative reporter who had his own show and was engaged to a lawyer Anne Weying (Michelle Williams - All the Money in the World, My Week with Marilyn etc). However, after an interview went wrong with a billionaire Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Night Of miniseries etc), his life went spiraling down as he lost all credibility as journalist.
In his lowest moments, Eddie somehow found out about the experiments being done by Drake's foundation which involved living organism from outer space referred to as Symbiote. As fate would have it, one of the Symbiote (named himself Venom) chose Eddie as its host and they would later on became one that resulted to Eddie having super strength and super healing abilities. However, Venom might have his own agenda which could jeopardize the life on earth. Not to mention other Symbiotes were also trying to look for hosts that would survive them.
So what would happen to Eddie and his alter ego Venom? Find them all in this quite interesting antihero action movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Now this was a movie which was a bit slow at first but as it progressed, it became more exciting and fun in a rather chaotic way. In fact the first half hour was so slow, up to the point where I became a bit impatient and wanted to see Eddi Brock became Venom and I thought that it could not come fast enough. Yes it did have some very brief suspenseful scene involving the other Symbiote, but I personally felt it was too brief and did not leave too much impression. Anyway, after Venom started to inhibit Eddie's body, the movie pace became very fast, exciting and a bit suspenseful.
The action sequences I thought were awesome, with special effects nicely done, especially the climax scene. I thought the CGI was done quite well (considering it had a budget of USD 100 million, I guessed it should not come as a surprise). But because the Venom itself was made by CGI, I am not sure if it would appeal to people who do not appreciate too much use of it. For me and my wife though, we were pretty entertained by the effects. Oh one definite thing that made us like Venom character was the voice. It was a very deep commanding voice that impressed us as it totally suit a villainous monstrous character from out of space which totally contradict Eddie Brock's voice.
I also thought that Tom Hardy was quite convincing playing the role of a washed up failed reporter (with his appearance looking very down, even the way he walked), and also his interaction with Venom which was quite amazing. Sometimes even amusing. And this was what probably people may not really enjoy, since Venom was supposed to be a super villain and should probably have been more ruthless (although there was scene which hinted the ripping of human bodies). Perhaps if the movie was made in R Rating, it probably would be a lot more entertaining and appealing. Another thing that I thought was a bit lacking was the duration. For a stand alone anti-hero origin movie, I personally felt it was too short with less than 2 hours, especially with the first half hour slow paced scenes.
Being a fan of superheroes movies (or anti heroes) but never read the Spider-man comics, I cannot say whether this Venom was exactly what I would have pictured. Even Venom's name was only familiar to me because he was one of the villain in Spider-man 3 (last time played by Topher Grace). From what I understand, Venom was supposed to be in the Spider-man's owned universe, but it would not cross over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So audience need to manage their expectations.
Aside from the cool performance from Tom Hardy as Venom, and the good special effects, this movie's sound effects were really amazing. If you have the chance to see this in a Dolby Atmos theaters, I would recommend you to do so to experience the movie better, rather than going to the studios with lousy low quality sound system. When I saw the end credit scene, I also noticed it was specialized for IMAX, so I think that would be awesome as well. Oh ya, there was 1 mid end credit scene (which would probably be understood only by Spider-man fans who read the comics) and another 1 post end credit scene that gave us a hint on a movie coming to theaters in December 2018. So be sure not to leave your seats too soon.
Overall I thought that this movie was quite entertaining, albeit a bit simplified in the story part and too short duration. But the action sequences (especially the chasing scenes in San Francisco) were awesome and there were also few scenes that were quite funny. My wife and I quite enjoyed this movie as we did not over analyze it. Audience who want to see this movie expecting real violent action scenes would not be satisfied. I don't think it's safe enough for children as there might be brief horrific sequence and scenes more suitable for the more mature audience. So if you are looking for a soft, a bit fun anti hero Marvel movie and do not mind a so so plot, then this could be an alternative. However, if you prefer a more violent one like Deadpool or a crossover with MCU, then you would not find them here. The choice is yours.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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