Took my younger cousin to go see this. He's much more into the marvel universe than I am. Seems like he enjoyed it; I enjoyed eating the popcorn (at first).

From what I gather, the plot follows venom/eddie, a chaotic-good anti-hero duo, as they try to lead a "normal" life in a not so normal world. Since marvel movies are cookie cutter, I kind of knew where this movie was headed, but after a while, it started to remind me of another movie: Inside Out.

!! SPOILERS !!: Inside Out is about a young girl dealing with depression. The movie represents her emotions using personas (one for sadness, anger, happiness, etc.) which are little beings living inside her head that talk to each other. The movie uses the conversations between the emotions as a way to guide the girl's emotions (and by extension, the audience). What I liked about Inside Out was it wasn't afraid to tackle tough issues. Even though the movie was made for children, I was still able to relate to it, as a grown man, and it left an impression on me.

So what does this have to do with venom? Well, venom is essentially eddie's alter ego. He serves the same purpose as an imaginary friend, being there for eddie when he's at his lowest. He's there to talk to eddie when no one else will. Mental health is an important subject, and men's mental health is often ignored. I thought, for a second, that this movie would actually go there, that eddie would actually talk about his problems and venom might help him get through it. I was about to get interested in the film...but nope.... it was back to the noise.

Unfortunately, movie execs don't like taking risks and prefer falling back to the tried and tested formula of entertaining people: lots of fights, action, little talking and cliffhangers for the next run-of-the-mill film.