Venom is a superhero film based on the Marvel Spider-Man villain of the same name. Starring Tom Hardy in the title role, it is a strange anomaly of a film that feels like it is from another generation altogether.

In San Francisco, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), a former investigative journalist, comes into contact with an alien symbiote that transforms him into a monstrous beast and gives him superhuman abilities. The beast calls itself "Venom" and tells Eddie that in order to survive on Earth, it needs to use him as its host. After discovering he is being pursued by a dangerous corporation, Eddie decides to ally with Venom to fend off the attackers.

Tonally inept and quite bizarre, Venom revels in its campiness and its weird entertainment factor. Every terrible moment is often cancelled out by something so ridiculously fun that it is difficult not to be entertained by it, and in turn, for every great moment there is usually something stupid to undo it, effectively bringing some kind of warped balance to the entire viewing experience. Tom Hardy's performance in the lead role garners somewhat mixed reactions. As Eddie he plays it seriously but the moment he becomes Venom, he hams it up to absurd levels, especially with the voice he uses once he has transformed. The film does, however, nail Venom's personality traits and super abilities, in addition to showcasing some cheesy CGI effects on his character model. Overall, Venom could be seen from two different perspectives, the first being that it is a somewhat satirical take on some of the ridiculous superhero films of the mid 2000s (think Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four, Daredevil), and the second being that it is yet another modern comic-based misfire from Sony Pictures, further proving that they should just give back the character rights to Marvel. Which of the two is entirely up to the viewer.

I rate it 5.5/10