Despite poor reviews from critics, "Venom" is making quite a lot of money at the box office right now. Maybe it's because of the popularity of the character, or maybe even the fact that some casual audiences may (incorrectly) believe it is part of the MCU. I didn't think it looked very good and was not planning to see it in theaters originally, and only went to see it because of an online ticketing coupon which made it free. That said, I went in optimistic, as there have been some films this year that looked unappealing yet I ended up finding them enjoyable (e.g. "The Spy Who Dumped Me.") But despite my optimistic sentiment, "Venom" was not just bad, it was really bad.

I like Tom Hardy as an actor, but his acting is incredibly weak here. He is not really given much of a range to work with, which isn't necessarily his fault, but his portrayal of Eddie Brock is wholly unconvincing. The film's "origin story" tropes are rather tired, but that's nothing compared to the film's atrocious script. The script for this film is one of the worst in recent memory, with unbelievably cheesy dialogue or very cliché dialogue (e.g. Brock saying "what is wrong with me?" after feeling sick, etc.) coming at the viewer in almost every scene. Additionally, the film's tonal mishaps give the film a major identity crisis. "Venom" can't decide whether it wants to be an action-comedy a la traditional Marvel movies or a sci-fi horror flick a la "Alien." The problem is that the movie struggles with both tones. The attempts at humor in the movie feel incredibly forced and unfunny. Despite some creepy images of body horror and one or two jump scares, the movie is not particularly scary either. As a result, the movie just feels like a mishmash that was thrown together. The only remotely decent thing about it is an engaging car chase scene about halfway through. Definitely not recommended. 2/10