With Venom, Sony proved that it has the ability to be at par with Marvel Studios. What made Marvel take over the audience’s minds was its strategy to form a universe from the very emergence of the MCU with Iron-Man. During that time, all that Sony had was Raimi’s Spider-Man. But better late than never, Sony too began to explore its rights of Spider-Man characters. And Venom was undoubtedly the perfect way to do it. Perhaps, Spider-Man’s greatest foe and also one of the coolest, Venom, would certainly set the stage for Sony to garner a larger audience which it would then hold on to with Sony Universe of Spider-Man Characters.
Nobody can play Tom Hardy’s characters better than him. Period. And as Eddie Brock, too, he looks great. While his nature is entirely different from the one played by Topher Grace in Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, both the Eddie’s seemingly belong in different universes. This is evident from the fact that Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker belongs to another universe and not the MCU. So neither does Topher Grace’s, Eddie Brock. And there is also the overwhelming fact that we saw Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in Venom: Let There Be Carnage post-credits scene. However, it was not until this year that we came to know this. So, we will have to base our assumptions on the former fact. Be that as it may, Tom Hardy will be Venom in the MCU.
Matthew Libatique’s cinematography is apt. It is one thing to capture an actual location and another thing to capture an action sequence that will rely heavily on CG. Libatique doesn’t compromise on the excitement either way. This point might even enable many people to say that Venom is better than Venom: Let There be Carnage.
Ludwig Goransson, of Black Panther fame, provided the music for the film. And the tracks hold on to the plot of the movie while being in sync with its nature. And Eminem’s Venom is off the hook, of course.
But the most critical aspect of the movie was the character design. Both the lead characters are completely CG, and this had to be delivered perfectly. DNEG, Sony Pictures Image works, and One of Us took on the responsibility and what a fine work they have done. Both Venom and Riot look huge and menacing. They are distinctly different from each other despite carrying the same symbiote quality.
Many people will opt for Raimi’s Venom, stating that it was more practical than CG. But keeping in mind how colossal Venom is in the comics and the way he has been represented, Raimi’s version appears too human. This is something that could not be overcome by the technology of the time. Venom, on the other hand, made effective use of VFX to give Venom his monstrous physique. It was visually appealing without being surreal.
As far as the direction is concerned, Ruben Fleischer does not do a lousy job. As an introduction of a new character, Venom is able to do that successfully. For some, the movie may be a mess; for others, it may not. It falls under the umbrella of superhero films, where if one likes the character, they will enjoy the film as well. Be that as it may, Venom will always remain the first step towards establishing that the world has enough superhero movies. With Venom, we get our first supervillain (antihero) movie. So cheers to that.
Venom is a 2018 Action Thriller film directed Ruben Fleischer.
