By guest columnist narrator26
From the opening scenes of Venom‘s cinematic solo debut, I found myself being brought back to simpler comic book times: no blatant world-building and no exaggerated sense of scale; quite enjoyable actually. Unfortunately, as the film progressed, my warm feeling towards early noughties nostalgia was soon replaced with the realisation of how dated it all began to feel.
And which pre-MCU outing did it mirror most? Ghost Rider.
A manic, yet committed lead, a wasted love interest, a watered down antihero, many eyerolling moments, a rushed antagonist subplot resulting in nonsensical computer generated carnage? Sounds about right.
To make another comparison, it took Marvel more than a decade to revive Daredevil and do it properly. Sure, the film has flourishes of fun, but was way too cheesy. I don’t hate 2003’s Devil, but at the time, you still knew they could have done better. And that’s how I feel about Venom.
The problem is, this is already Sony’s second attempt at the character (11 years later!) At the end of the day, I’m speaking as a cinema fan who has always enjoyed visiting the comic book genre. Perhaps this portrayal of Eddie Brock is more faithful to the panels; I just feel as a film, this version has arrived a decade too late. See it if you must, but keep the expectations at a Daredevil/Hulk/Fantastic Four/Ghost Rider low. Thoughts?
Narrator26 is a movie reviewer and film addict, you can find more of his spoiler-free reviews on his feed here.