Venom (2018): "A Turd in the Wind"

Venom (2018)

Dir: Ruben Fleischer

“A Turd in the Wind”

Venom is the highly anticipated reincarnation of the famed anti-hero, since the characters’ stint in the car crash that was Spider Man 3. Unfortunately, while this new version of Venom is not a total car crash, it does call in to question who on Earth is behind the wheel at Sony.

Like the titular character, the film is caught in two minds over what exactly it wants to be.

To prevent any boredom, I won’t go into detail about the plot of Venom. But essentially, through a convoluted set of circumstances, the once highly respected investigative reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) comes into contact with an extra-terrestrial life form that draws Eddie into even more confusing and dizzying set of events, that still feel hard to process.

And that’s fundamentally the main problem with Venom, there is simply too much going on that it becomes exhausting. The film tries to bring in elements of space travel, global extermination and human evolution that strangles the central plot point – which simply should be Eddie Brock internally battling with a symbiotic demon.

The film suffers immensely from a lack of identity. By attempting to a combination of so many different genres, themes and tones, Venom comes across clunky and cynical. There were rumours the film would be initially shot with an R-Rated certificate but later on down the line, that changed into a tepid 12A/PG-13 rating. Again, this lack of, or courage of, deciding what Venom should be meant that it became an empty experience ending with two squabbling Mr Tickles.

Given the proposed R-rating, the initial trailers and the hiring of Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), Venom appeared to be going for a horror-comedy style. But to pull that off, the balance of both genres has to be delicately poised as well as uncompromising. Similarly, the best horror-comedies from Zombieland, Cabin in the Woods, Shaun of the Dead and Evil Dead, the scripts are the essential aspects of each and every film. The gratuitous horror blends brilliantly with outlandish comedy like two sides of the same coin. There is this unbelievability about each story, that the characters almost don’t take it seriously and don’t realise what sort of film they are in until the second act.

What each of those films has, is an unwavering central focus on the characters. As the characters are fleshed out, given time to grow and establish their identity, there is then a connection created for the audience to be emotionally invested in the character’s plight. Venom has next to none of this. The lack of a character-driven drama is brain-numbingly obvious its baffling how it passed unnoticed.

Instead of focusing on Eddie handling the horror of having a murderous creature festering inside his organs, the film leans over to Riz Ahmed’s Carlton Drake, who is essentially a Bond villain with diatribes about the next step in human evolution. Instead of investigating the emotional toll of Eddie’s relationship with Michelle Willaims’ Anne Weying, who instead is positioned as the most generic of love interests and is simply used to move the plot along. This is Oscar nominated Michelle Williams. There is clear potential the Venom story has to offer, and Sony appeared to have butchered that for profit margins.

If you employ a director who has shown he can pull off an excellent horror-comedy feature, Zombieland, why then screw around with the film in the edit to create a wish-washy thing that is forgotten the moment the credits start rolling. Why not stick with the original vision of dark, ultra-violent horror blended with comedic elements. The reason the comedy works in those films such as Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead etc. is because it contrasts drastically with the gruesome horror, of course with excellent character development but that tonal contrast is prevalent nonetheless.

Once you take that horror out of the film like in Venom, you’re left with spine-cringing comedy that has no place or impact. Venom literally has no bite. There are constant references to eating heads and body parts, and whenever Venom is about to do such a disgusting act, the camera crudely cuts away and the bloodless carcass is discarded, only to return to the emotionless dialogue. This kind of back tracking leads to a clunky mess that brings nothing new to the table of comic book adaptations.

Venom should have been a tonal cousin to something like Deadpool. Unwavering, unapologetic and embrace and enjoy the lunacy of the story. Instead, in a few years’ time it will be a double header with Suicide Squad. Stories with big stars, all the potential, but a charade of action-packed emptiness to fill the wallets of charlatans.