#Venom. The byline of the poster says “the world has enough super heroes”. And that probably sums up the confusion that this next in the Marvel comics-brought-to-big-screen film is.
So, he is not a hero? Then is he a villain? Uh! Ya. It is evil from another planet that wants to destroy planet earth. But wait.. not quite, because he changes his mind, and instead decides to save the earth. So may be he is a hero, after all.
So maybe he is not a “super” hero? and he doesn’t have powers? Ya. He is an everyday loser who doesn’t care about saving the world or anything. But, wait.. not quite, because he likes the alien inside him (as weird as that sounds) that gives him all the powers to save the world.
So maybe he is not “just another” super hero? He is bad ass, different, unique, R-rated like Deadpool? Ya, he is arrogant, cocky, bold, has sex too, but wait.. his girlfriend dumps him, he loses his job and he completely loses his confidence, will to live, and his general overall personality till the alien gets hold of him.
That’s when you realise you’re watching a weak movie. The plot is predictable and lame. And brings nothing new.
Alien species lands on earth due to the misplaced ambition of a scientist (Carlton Drake, played by Riz Ahmed) to save the world through unscrupulous experiments. This species needs to inhabit human beings to survive and exhibit their power. One evil alien that inhabits noted journalist Eddie Brock (Thomas Hardy) turns good and the other that doesn’t inhabits the evil scientist. And the fight between good and evil, till happily ever after.
The plot had potential, no doubt. The one thing that IS remotely interesting (or should I say symbiotely interesting) is the the aspect of the symbiotic alien. They are two beings living in the same biological entity. One body, two souls. This opens up an interesting dimension of (no, not schizophrenia) a genuine double existence of 2 very different people in one form. Now, this is something that’s not explored before in a super hero, most of whom are very unidimensional. How the two-in-one co-exist, building on each other and completing each other in a way that makes them better together, both in a funny and a profound way and very often in a dark way. This aspect has a lot of possibilities. But in the way it’s done in the film, it feels like too much of a throwback to Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man 3, (remember, when the black gooey alien takes over Spidey to make him dark!) and loses the opportunity of creating something new.
The only other thing that had potential was ofcourse, Thomas Hardy. And it seems like he was the entire bet for the film to work. But even he is not able to save the film. How can one can look at Hardy as a loser. It’s just not convincing. And the overall story lets him down.
Again Riz Ahmed (a good actor) becomes another cliche of an evil scientist. Michelle Williams (again, great actor), as the woman lead also had the potential to play a different, more equal partner to Venom, but again becomes another damsel not-even-a-sidekick.
All and all, a disappointing, full-marks-for-trying-something-different-but-ending-up-in-a-seen-there-done-that not-quite-Marvel film.
As you walk out of the theatre, you can’t help but agree vehemently with the byline. The world, indeed, has enough super heroes. We can live without this one.
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