If you are a fan of Spider-Man, or even better of one of the historical nemesis, Venom, then these nights you will certainly not be sleeping soundly. On the other hand, between the foreign criticism that defines the new Sony film as "the Fantastic Four of 2018" and the bad experiences had when Marvel does not put his hand to one of his characters, the conditions for failure are all there. Of course appearances can be deceiving - as always - and to best explain why, all in all, Venom isn't so bad, we have to start with three big nos.
It is not a cinecomic
Unfortunately, in our opinion, Venom does not fall within the genre of cinecomics: although it tells the story and origins of an (anti) hero, it does not follow the classic narrative strands of this genre, but rather forgets them totally in favor of a plot much more sci-fi and action. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is a successful journalist, he has a gorgeous girlfriend named Annie (Michelle Williams), but a bad habit: she can't hide the truth. This is why when he learns of shady experiments in the New Life Foundation conducted by the founder Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) can't help but investigate. This will lead him to lose everything and fall into an infinite abyss. For a series of events, Eddie will come into contact with one of these symbionts discovered by the company, and from there the story will unfold in a crescendo of emotions. Unfortunately these emotions do not follow a constant trend, falling a few times due to badly managed scenes, including those of action. If Tom Hardy manages to capture the camera perfectly, his alter ego is clouded in the fast stages of the film, sometimes making the viewer a little confused.
It is not faithful to the original
As we have already said in some articles, this Venom takes a lot of inspiration from Lethal Protector by David Michelinie: unfortunately (or fortunately), these two works only share the city (San Francisco) and a few fixed points. For the rest, the story tells of a slightly different Eddie Brock, of a quite different Venom and generates a very different symbiotic mythology from the original (thanks to the absence of Spider-Man). It will be these differences that will benefit the film, showing dynamics rarely seen in comics, and which certainly make it much better on film. In the previous paragraph we said that Venom is not a cinecomic, yet the dosage of lines seems studied a bit like the movies The Marvel movies (or recent action movies like The Predator), pulling a smile on the mouth more than a few times.
It is not as violent as it seems
You might be a little sorry, but Venom it will not be as violent as it seems in the trailer: on the contrary, a fundamental part will be given by the psychology of the symbionts and their character. We have seen in the comics several times how Venom actually, being a sentient being, has its own intellect and therefore makes its own choices. This factor is faithfully reported in the film (but we will avoid telling you how). The violent scenes are present, but the cuts made make them harmless enough, making the film suitable for kids as well. And perhaps here lies the origin of the second serious problem that afflicts the film: coherence. Some scenes seem to have been cut with an ax, others start from unrealistic incipits (not in terms of physics, but rather in terms of cause-consequence of human relationships), and if we add this to the battles and chases, done in such a way as not to stop too much on the various protagonists (probably to hide imperfections), it comes by itself to understand how to see Venom you will have to go there with a light heart, without pretending a galactic plot and above all sketching if any scene will make you turn up your nose. Like the symbiotes in this film, you will have to choose whether to accept these premises and enjoy the film, or reject them and leave the room with a grimace.
The whole works, but ...
The real strength of Venom it is the match Eddie e symbiont: their dialogues, the way they interact with each other, the character of Eddie that collides with that of the alien, the choices they will make are realistically well made and never predictable. In short, to make an omelette you have to break some eggs, or rather, eat some heads. In a predictable whirlwind of emotions that lead the plot to end in a fairly obvious ending, Venom is proof of Sony in showing that you don't need an expanded universe to make a film fun and exciting: you need to structure plot and dynamics well, and although Sony has not yet come to perfect everything, Venom it is a big step forward from things we had already seen long ago and which unfortunately remain indelible in the mind (Spider-Man 3).
