'Venom' is a film that has been through production hell and has taken a long time to get to our screens. After the film's marketing run which I feel in my opinion, didn't leave people thinking about rushing to the cinemas with mammoth expectations to see it. 'Venom' was better than I expected and it surprised me.

Tom Hardy is excellent here and fully embraces the ridiculousness of the role and it works 100%, anyone else in the role and it wouldn't have worked. The relationship between Eddie Brock and Venom is the saving grace of the film and it provides a lot of comedy which is hilarious. Sometimes, I couldn't tell if certain things were meant to be intentionally played for laughs or not, and it didn't bother me. The film at times feels quite self-aware of what it's doing and knows what its trying to be. During a certain chase scene, the action mixed together with the comedy created an incredibly entertaining sequence.

There are a few characters who are in a completely different film. Riz Ahmed is a terrific actor but his character and portrayal doesn't work. The villain is very bland and boring. Michelle Williams is also a excellent actor but her character doesn't work. Both characters take up so much screen time and are rather underwritten. Mix all this in with a very quickly thrown together generic superhero third act, some dialogue that just doesn't work and a few plot holes.

When this film works, it is fantastic and the highs are really high. When the film doesn't work however, it creates some seriously conflicting tones, cliche's and just makes you wish you were watching more of Eddie and Venom.

I enjoyed this movie and am looking forward to a sequel if it happens. It did enough good for me, but upon further thought it has its problems. Also, 'Venom' doesn't really suffer a lot from being PG-13, however, an R rating would've been interesting and preferred.

People will have very differing opinions on this film. If you love it, I get it and if you think its garbage, I get it. Go watch it for some fun, it is hard to not have a laugh during the runtime, whether you are laughing with it or at it.

C+ = 5/10