Venom

Au vu de la disparité des critiques, je ne savais pas à quoi m’attendre, mais pour finir, Venom est juste passable – ce qui m’irrite légèrement vu que ce film aurait pu être bien meilleur. Les limitations de la certification PG-13 sont très perceptibles et les scènes conçues comme drastiques soit se retrouvent élaguées de sorte à ne rien laisser voir, soit des moyens vraiment ridicules sont trouvés pour éviter l'effusion de sang (par exemple, un symbiote transforme ses membres en lames acérées, mais au lieu de découper ses ennemis, il les éjecte sur le côté). Rien de bien neuf sous le soleil en ce qui concerne l’intrigue ; un récit étiologique relativement prenant, malheureusement gâché par un méchant totalement générique et inintéressant joué par Riz Ahmed. La logique part en vrille à certains moments, notamment quand Venom dit à Eddie qu’il était dans sa tête et sait tout de lui et que, cinq minutes plus tard, il lui demande qui est Anne. Paradoxalement, le film fonctionne le mieux pendant ses scènes comiques dans lesquelles Tom Hardy marmonne et fait le pitre, ce qui est plutôt lamentable pour un film qui se veut sombre – et qui ne l’est décidément pas du tout. (09/01/2019)

Venom is getting a lot of hate so far, because critics on RottenTomatoes gave it an average rating of only 4.3, but on IMDB it's a rather satisfactory 7.0, so again it looks like the audience is mostly satisfied, only the critics are grumbling, but they always do when it's not a sophisticated drama, musical or cheap indie. Personally I wasn't expecting much, but Ruben Fleischer, director of Zombieland and Gangster Squad, has once again pleasantly surprised me. It's a shame it’s not R-rated, but it still looks pretty gritty and dark even without the blood. The opening half hour is slightly slower, but once Tom Hardy meets Venom (the scene in the lab is atmospherically horrific), the film becomes an action adrenaline ride to the end that doesn't let off the gas. Tom Hardy's performance is different than ever before and he's surprisingly very funny, and those who like the guy will like him even more after this. Venom's voice is also great and his looks are perfect. The action is great, even though it often takes place in the dark, it's still suspenseful, gritty enough and with decent cinematography. So my only criticisms are the mediocre villain and the rather underwhelming finale, but I had a great time and that's what comic-book movies are all about. Woody Harrelson as Carnage is going to be awesome. The theater was packed, I hope the film succeeds financially. 75% (04/10/2018)

Hardy would be funny even if he played a used roll of toilet paper. This is true even in a film that is written and composed as cumbersomely as Venom. Something is being prepared for a very long time and quite illogically, then everything is revealed and resolved very quickly. The disobedient film works thanks to Hardy's charm. But it is on pretty thin ice. (24/10/2019)

Everything good about this movie is actually thanks to Tom Hardy. This Marvel movie would have ended up in the abyss of history without Tom Hardy and nobody would have ever remembered it. In this way, however, it’s a decent introduction of a new character of the Marvel universe, but it pays brutally for the naïve screenplay. While I accepted the fact that Venom is actually a distant cousin of the Goa'ulds from Stargate SG-1, I really struggled with accepting the simplicity of the screenplay, according to which the tired and disappointed Tom Hardy meets with his buddy Venom. Riz Ahmed isn’t a completely dignified adversary for Venom either; he’s rather an easy ticket into our world, which he surprisingly grew to like. Being a crazy scientist is quite a popular topic which doesn’t get old easily. What could get old are the typical tropes Marvel is already full of. Thankfully, Venom is strong because of Tom Hardy and even Venom himself understood that. And at least because of that I have a reason to look forward to the next installment. (08/10/2018)

Tom Hardy has a problem, an alien parasite has attached itself to him and wants to start eating people, but there are some worse monsters out there, so Eddie Brock and Venom decide to join forces and become the most ordinary of superheroes. Venom manages to adapt a potentially interesting and darker character into a jaded hero who looks like a relic of the past and could have captured the attention of maybe twelve years ago. I don't really know what to praise about it, even the best elements of it are mediocre at best. (05/10/2018)