‘Venom’: A Potent Take on an Old Classic

“Venom” bravely resolves to rewrite the origin of a beloved Spider-Man villain in a story independent from the original franchise. At a time when many superhero movies can feel like permutations of the same heroic archetypes and contrived villains, “Venom” differentiates itself from the paradigm by featuring a hero that is not one but two people.

After a spaceship returns with specimens of shape-shifting alien lifeforms called symbiotes, the power-hungry Life Foundation, run by Dr. Drake (Riz Ahmed), explores ways to mesh the creatures with human beings through lethal experiments that exploit the desperate and unsuspecting. Meanwhile, an ex-reporter, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), struggles to get his life back on track after his fiancée, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), leaves him. The plots collide after Eddie sneaks into Dr. Drake’s laboratories and finds himself an unexpected host of the symbiote named Venom. As two minds trapped in one superhuman body, they struggle against relentless captors and the corrosive nature of their own cohabitation. The protagonist’s dual nature adds a unique style to the action and enriches the storyline, explaining why the anti-hero continues to hold a special place in the Marvel Universe.

While the comics have Venom and Eddie unite under a mutual hatred of Spider-Man, the movie chooses to develop them as a unit for their own sake, which gives each character more depth and relatability. As such, the exclusion of Spider-Man ultimately allows for a closer examination of their dynamic. Generally consistent with the comics, Venom is an ostracized misfit on his home planet, something he and Eddie find they have closely in common. Together, they highlight the magic of teamwork, becoming a force more powerful than the sum of its parts.

Make no mistake, however: Their relationship is far from symbiotic. In Eddie’s body, Venom lays the ground rules — “Cooperate and you might just survive” — as they rampage through the city and bite off the occasional head. Eddie must wrestle with the appreciation of his newfound potential and the destructive toll such power takes on himself and others. Indeed, his internal conflict runs parallel to that of Dr. Drake, who shows the ugly consequence of letting pure ambition drive one’s actions. In the literal and figurative sense, when Eddie can’t escape his demons, he must learn to live with them.

Having rewritten Venom’s origin to such an extent, the movie arguably breaks out of the MCU, taking free reign in its fresh take on an established character. Fans have sparked debates over where the movie stands in relation to Marvel’s other hits, and though the answer remains relatively ambiguous, “Venom” undoubtedly stays true to Marvel’s essence. Behind every superhero movie is the underlying idea that through persistence and teamwork, good can overcome evil against all odds. That assurance is reflected both in Eddie’s attempts to journalistically take down the well-established Life Foundation and Venom’s eventual showdown with a formidable foe to be revealed.

Deeply meaningful in its written storyline, the movie carries through with satisfactory execution. As a disclaimer, it’s meant to be fun. Establishing scenes meant to get the narrative going are often short and to the point, making the movie fast-paced at the expense of occasionally choppy storytelling. Exposition, though artistically uncouth, serves to get the audience on board with the events without a belabored backstory. Such capitalization on entertainment likely explains the disparity between the critics’ and viewers’ take on the same story.

Outside of just being a “fun” movie, “Venom” does have its conventional merits. Acting can make or break a film, and Hardy’s performance brilliantly brings to life the likeness of Eddie Brock. In one particular scene, Eddie stumbles into a fancy restaurant, desperate to talk to Anne while still adjusting to the alien inside him that’s slowly feasting on his organs. Ravenously devouring diners’ plates, sitting in a lobster tank, and all the while telling everyone to shut up, Hardy perfectly embodies the distressed sickness one would expect to see in his character.

In its action scenes, the film effectively utilizes setting and special effects to accurately tell Eddie and Venom’s story, in its uniquely, action-packed chaos. When the sloping streets of San Francisco aren’t being used to reflect the downhill trajectory of Eddie’s life post-breakup, they become ramps for motorcycles and the crowded racetrack for a catastrophic car chase. The decision to have a fully CGI main character allows for physics-defying fight scenes, and a spectacular demonstration of the symbiotes’ capabilities in the final showdown.

In the end, “Venom” offers a creative retelling of the anti-hero’s origin, and its rich messages with an entertaining twist make it well worth a trip to the theater.