While there was a lot of hype surrounding the comic book character’s first standalone movie, Venom wasn’t quite what fans were expecting. 

Ever since Venom’s lackluster appearance in Sam Raimi’s 2007 film Spider-Man 3, Marvel fans have been anxiously waiting for a comics-accurate look at the character. 

Following a lead on a story, disgraced journalist Eddie Brock (played by Academy Award nominee Tom Hardy) investigates the Life Foundation and stumbles upon an alien life form, also known as a symbiote. Eddie’s body then merges with the symbiote and together they become Venom. 

For the first hour, the film slowly sets up the characters and explains the nature of the symbiotes. It’s not until halfway through that the audience gets to see Venom in all his symbiotic glory. 

Although the film is slow in the beginning, it almost makes up for it with Hardy’s performance as Brock. When the symbiote first attaches itself to Brock, the audience can tell that the character is struggling with the twisted personality inside of him as he is terrified of what is going to happen the longer he is the host of this creature. 

Besides playing Brock, Hardy also voices Venom, which he portrays brilliantly throughout the second half of the film. The constant dialogue between Brock and Venom is what keeps the movie afloat as it keeps the audience engaged with the storyline. Whether it makes you laugh or it makes you scared for your life, the dialogue between the two personalities is the highlight of this film. 

Other than Hardy’s performance, the film doesn’t have a whole lot else going for it. With the inconsistent themes throughout the plot and a sloppy screenplay, Venom doesn’t quite know what type of movie it wants to be. 

Sometimes, it feels like a horror film. At other times, it feels more or less like a buddy comedy. These transitions between different genres take the audience out of the film, leaving them dissatisfied after the credits roll. 

Lacking character development, the script makes the dialogue between certain characters (except for Brock and Venom) feel clumsy almost and sometimes straight-up ridiculous. 

Instead of offering meaningful performances from the actors, the screenplay trades that in for cheap jokes. Although the quips do make the audience laugh, they are left wanting a much darker and a more serious tone to the superhero film. 

Even though Venom has a PG-13 rating, the question was raised by fans if the film was going to be Rated R. Considering that the infamous Spider-Man villain bites the heads off of his victims, a Rated R approach would have been a unique way to go in order to make the film stand out on its own in an ever-expanding world of superhero movies. 

While Venom has its flaws, it is still a fun and entertaining movie that keeps the audience engaged until the very end, no matter how much of a mess it is.