Got to see it with my 19 year old kids, so that adds a little to it. And they enjoyed it, so kudos to the Hardy/Serkis team. The phrase that both resonated with after watching was "the film did not take itself too seriously."

I did notice that Hardy was listed as a co-writer, along with Kelly Marcel. So kudos to Mr. Hardy, and I think he strove to keep Eddie Brock as an old school style Marvel hero, with his personal life in a shambles. I'm not comic connoisseur like my kids, but that was my take. And perhaps working with Ms. Marcel, they were trying to amp up the romance in the film?

I'm not talking about the bromance between Brock and symbiote (although this film is a sort of successful couples counseling if you want to view it that way). But between Carnage and Shriek....granted their relationship has clear problems based on their powers. On screen I felt the chemistry had more problems, and as much as I appreciate all things Woody, his unnatural born killer here felt a bit wooden to me.

Or maybe it was dwarfed by the CGI. Here is another point where my kids and I differed, they liked this more than the polished/refined CGI they've seen in other Marvel movie product. To me, it was just too omnipresent. But yeah, I've drifted far out of the demographic from when I first introduced my young lads to the 60's Spiderman cartoons. (Reminds me that one of my sons really dug the soundtrack here btw...)

Anyways, the body surfing by Venom was the high point or me. Recommend watching it with people you love who really want to see it, then all is good, right? Hell I should give this a rare 10 just for that ;>