Venom (2018) - Mini Movie Review/Recap (Spoilers)

In preparation for the release of the sequel. I decided to re-watch the original Venom movie. I had not seen the movie since its theater release back in 2018. Which feels both not that long ago, but also a lifetime ago. Turns out I had forgotten everything except for how much I love Tom Hardy in the role. 

Before I share my review of this movie I will tell you my background in the Spider-Verse. I grew up watching Spider-Man the animated series, circa 1994. I remember liking it and catching it whenever I could. I was really excited when the first Spider-Man movie that came out in 2002, but basically fell off the Spider wagon shortly after that. It wasn't until much later that I sat down and watched every Spider-Man movie. Some were not great, looking at you Garfield and some were amazing, Into the Spider-Verse, you know what I'm talking about. If I am recalling correctly, in Spider-Man 3 we meet a version of Eddie Brock/Venom played by Topher Grace. Going to be honest. I do not remember much about this movie except for this guy.

Moving on. Overall I liked Venom. For me, it is a movie about a couple of misfits who found each other.  Eddie Brock is a loser and the way Tom Hardy kind of looks like shit the whole movie is pretty great. Venom also calls himself a misfit. They really are perfect for each other. 

The timeline of this movie makes no sense to me. Space ship crashes. One Symbiote escapes and spends like maybe a day or two walking to a village. In that time we see a happy Eddie with the always lovely Michelle Williams, playing his girl friend Anne. We also meet the owner of said space ship, Carlton Drake. He is a rich lunatic that seems to hate all people? I laughed because now in 2021 we have rich lunatics just popping into space. Life is weird that way. The Symbiote that escaped is now in the body of an old lady. We get to watch Eddy mess up his whole life by going after Drake, because Eddie snuck a peak at Anne notes (She is a lawyer and her company works for Drake's company), saying that he was being sued for wrongful deaths. He loses his job and causes his girlfriend to lose hers too and she dumps him. He 100% deserved all of that.

"Six Months Later"

Guess it took the Symbiote 6 months to find an airport...That old lady must have been crazy tough to live with that thing for six months. Seeing how all the other Symbiotes just kill everyone they go in. Now the Symbiote is in a little girl on her way to San Francisco. 

Note: It is weird to see Jenny Slate (Dr. Skirth) play a not comedic character. She isn't bad or anything, it is just odd. 

So we see that Drake is just killing lots of homeless people, by putting the Symbiotes in them. I guess his goal is to create a super human who can go live in space. Dr. Skirth (Jenny Slate), his top researcher, finally reaches her limit. Note: It is weird to see Jenny Slate play a not comedic character. She isn't bad or anything, it is just odd. Meanwhile Eddie is sucking at life real hard. I am happy that Anne finds a perfectly nice doctor though. Dr. Skirth goes to Eddie and tells him how bad it is and that Drake is crazy and killing people. Eddie blows her off but pretty quickly changes his mind.

So this is supposed to be some kind of state of the art facility and after sneaking Eddie in, by badly hiding in the back seat. Then we see the two of them just wander around, her using her ID. I mean come on! She has to know there are cameras everywhere. Anyway, she goes to distract a guard and Eddie is just snapping pictures of all the people in small rooms. He sees someone he recognizes, it was the homeless woman that he said hi to a few shots ago. He breaks her out of the room and the Symbiote jumps into him. All the security that we didn't see before swarms like crazy but now super powered Eddie gets away by jumping really high into a tree.

Lots of other stuff goes down, but mostly it feels like it takes too long for Venom to start talking. Once he does it gets more interesting. Eddie in the restaurant eating the live lobster is pretty funny. Anne and Doctor boyfriend handle it pretty well. Good time to point out that Symbiotes only have like two weaknesses, fire and loud sounds that fall between 4Khz to 6Khz. This is stated many times. After a CT scan or MRI, hard to say what they were doing, we see that Eddie has a parasite. Venom does not like being called a parasite. The poor good Dr. Skirth gives up Eddie and then is promptly killed. Many, many guys show up to try and capture Eddie/Venom, but we get an epic fight and an even more epic car chase. 

So the little girl from the airport makes her way to the Life Foundation and the Symbiote transfers into Drake's body. Good thing this Symbiote doesn't just kill everyone it goes into...Also it's name is Riot, which is a great name but I am pretty sure Venom only says it like one time, much later in the movie. At the hospital Doctor boyfriend and Anne get Venom out of Eddie using sound?...and Eddie bounces only to be taken by Drake's goon. Venom goes into a dog.

Back at the Life Foundation, everyone threatens Eddie. For some reason the goons take Eddie into the woods, because why mess up the labs with more blood? Lucky for Eddie, Anne shows up and is super powered by Venom. Not going to lie, the kiss where Venom swaps bodies back to Eddie is...awkward and I didn't love it. Guess I am team Doctor boyfriend. 

Drake is being extra crazy, wanting to launch a rocket that he is going to fly himself. His staff is sure he has gone bonkers and is ready to stop him. So he kills everyone and starts the launch sequence. Venom tells Eddie that Riot is both crazy and extra. They both say screw it and go off to fight him. Epic fighting ensues, Eddie/Venom gets their butt kicked. Riot some how absorbs them. Lucky for them Anne is super smart and plays some loud noise to set them free. Eddie and Drake fight but then Riot stabs Eddie and we assume all hope is lost, but Venom is still alive and heals Eddie just in time to help him blow up the ship as it launches. (Remember fire is bad) Riot/Drake are killed and it looks like Venom is burned up too.

Later in front of Anne's house. They share a cute and awkward moment. We hear that Venom is still alive, Anne pretty much suspects that too. Eddie sets down some rules. No eating good people. 

In the after credit scene we meet. Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson). We don't get much, but that this guy is bad news and sure likes killing people. He drops the name Carnage. 

Note: All images belong to Marvel™ and Sony™