Tom Hardy, best known for playing the character Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises”, takes on the role of yet another masked villain; Venom. “Venom” delivered a wide range of “goods and bads” in terms of what most fans were hoping for. The fight scenes were engaging, the “suiting up” of Venom and Riot looked amazing (yet creepy), but the want for more story and a stronger explanation of certain scenes almost overpowered what made this movie truly enjoyable.

Hardy plays Eddie Brock, a reporter for his own news site “The Eddie Brock Show.” He finds himself face-to-face with the Venom symbiote when he breaks into the Life Foundation to do some investigating. The movie follows Eddie and his initial struggle to bond with Venom, but by eating peoples heads and hunting down “bad guys”, their relationship grows stronger and is one of the best parts about this film.

Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) plays the symbiote Riot, another head-hungry alien from the same planet as Venom. Drake is head of the Life Foundation, and was responsible for bringing the symbiotes down to earth. He conducted a series of human trials trying to determine whether humans could bond with the symbiotes or not. There was no clear motive for Riot to hate Venom, besides Eddie bonding perfectly with him, which made the final battle sequence somewhat disappointing. The climax of the fight seemed to be missing, there was no turning point or twist, so when it was over, we are left to think “really? nothing else?”

Eddie’s girlfriend, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), was the “basic” girlfriend, causing trouble here and there, and Michelle’s performance as Anne was nothing special. She had some cheesy lines, as did everyone else, but her character seemed dull and didn’t have any direct impact on the story.

Director Ruben Fleischer executed the idea of having a Venom origin without Spider-Man, and dulled down his vicious behavior very well, but missed a few key moments because of the PG-13 restriction. The comics portray Venom as a head-eating, gory monster; but the version displayed on screen was a mild, toned down version so kids of all ages could experience it. Fans were upset, claiming the movie should’ve stuck true to the comics and who Venom really is, and not about its appeal to audiences.

Venom: 7.5/10