Venom Movie Review: Symbiotic Thriller Fails to Engage with the most awaited Anti-Hero Character

The anti-hero spin-off entertains at parts but falls short of the expectations due to sloppy writing and lazy execution with average CGI in most parts of the film. Tom Hardy starrer Venom could be pretty much better with the evil anti-hero character and an apt performance from the actor, but unfortunately the film fails to do any good to the audience except some laugh worthy moments where Tom Hardy as Venom makes some one-liners to wake up the audience and have a laugh for a moment in this slow paced dark thriller.

The story starts when a bioengineering corporation named, Life Foundation discovers symbiotic lifeforms in the space and brings it to earth. Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), the CEO of the foundation gets attracted to the creatures and starts experimenting by bonding it to the humans to form a new lifeform of sapiens. That’s where the hero Eddie Brock, a journalist gets an interview session with the evil scientist and meanwhile uncovers his illegal actions before the public.

Scenes take various diversions after the incident and when Brock was called to the lab to know about Drake’s experiments, he was caught up with one of the symbiotic getting submerged with the deadly evil Venom. The battle of Tom Hardy with Venom within him and his connectivity with his inner dark creature which turns him an anti-hero is the rest of the story. The subtle humour of Tom as Venom is the only entertainment factor to ease a bit.

Rest sequences don’t make an impact with tried and tested formula of actions and superhero stunts being used and the audience already seem bored of seeing the usual stuff.  Apart from the fun factor, the Venom character was a successful attempt by the maker and the Venom was portrayed much better than the one in original film Spiderman – 3 where the character wasn’t much focused. Visual effects in some scenes look pretty eye-catching, although the CG effects weakened the experience.

Characterisations in the film looked incomplete without a depth and the understanding factor becomes tough for the audience due to shallow characters in the film. Logical loopholes can be seen in many instances like the miserable ending with a mid-credits scene that falls flat from making any expectation for a sequel. Tom Hardy’s performance stands out as the saviour of the screen to make the film watchable till the end and a bit of crazy attitude he carries onscreen was impressive.

Venom is a lazily made anti-hero film with a strong performance from Tom Hardy mixed with dark humour being the only appreciable factor in the film while the rest doesn’t stand up to the expectations.

Rating - 1.5/5