On Oct. 5, Sony released the new “Venom” movie. Although it was only given a 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, I thought that the film was relatively well-made. Unlike most movie adaptations of Marvel Comics, “Venom” is not a superhero. In fact, in most of the comics he is seen opposing Spider-man, and the only movie the character was previously included in was “Spider-man 3” in 2007. When Marvel Studios bought the Spider-man franchise back from Sony, and not Venom’s story line, most people were left with questions in regards to what happened to the villain.
The “Venom” movie started by providing a backstory, perceiving the character quite differently than previous movies did. It was refreshing to see such the dynamic character portrayed in a different light. The movie did a great job in expressing Venom’s complicated character, and this helped introduce Venom’s host Eddie Brock. The movie navigates through the the downward spiral of Brock, and how Venom and the rest of Symbiotes inhabited the Earth. The Symbiotes are an alien race that have been brought to Earth to be used in medical research. Not many movies are from the perspective of the “villains”.
Most of the time, it is very obvious who is meant to be good and evil. While Venom is a known enemy of Spider-man, he is more of an anti-hero in this particular movie. This movie has a “Deadpool” feel to it, where the main character is not really a good person, but is trying to help in his own way. The morals of both Venom and Deadpool are skewed, and they tend to see the world in shades of grey. They are more than willing to do immoral things to help out in the end.
One thing that I think is important in movies is comedic relief. It’s much harder to watch an action movie that is so serious throughout the entirety of the film. In “Venom,” Eddie Brock gives the audience the comedic relief in tense situations. He is very sarcastic and witty, and the relationship between him and Venom is hilarious. The dry humor that they often employ keeps the movie interesting.
All in all, I enjoyed this unusual spin on one of Marvel’s most popular villains. I’m excited to see how they might tie Venom into the new Spider-man series in the future.
