One thing that became clear in reviews I read was that this film was disjointed, lacking a consistent tone. Nevertheless I went to see Venom because I like the other films Tom Hardy has been in. Unfortunately, the frenetic feel of the film for the most part is due to Hardy's performance. His behaviour is jerky, impulsive. I think if the tone of his character was more pensive, showing a bit more of a sound mind, he would be more relatable. I suppose when someone is on the skids it is hard to look and act stable. My feeling in general about the story was that it was trying to juggle too many balls at once. Ball One: Breaking up with his fiance. Ball Two: Being fired because of a controversial CEO. Ball Three: Dealing with another entity living in his body. Ball Four: Following a lead on a big story involving that vindictive CEO. Ball Five: Dealing with attempts at treatment with Ex-Girlfriend's new doctor boyfriend. Ball Six: Trying to find a new job.

There is also the tired Marvel template of some over-the-top villain who always wants to take over the world. Must they always be trying to take over the world? How about just cornering the market on some new miracle drug (with nasty side effects)? Also present in every Marvel film are action set pieces, usually timed to go off every ten minutes or so. You get a mixed bag of the quality of the effects. The were moments, such as when a person was flung through the air, that didn't feel right. The effect of gravity during some CGI shots don't feel quite right. Saying that, SFO is always a fun playground for big action scenes, and this movie does fine with that.

Riz Ahmed plays the big bad CEO, something that now has become generic in superhero movies (Zuckerberg in Batman vs. Superman for example). He partakes in illegal activity, and enjoys immunity from prosecution because of his power of being rich. I found nothing either outstanding or lacking in his one note performance. I blame the script more than him. For the most part the film tries to take a serious tone, however the entity living in Hardy's body is presented with humor. This is one of the more fatal errors of the film. With a dysfunctional tone to begin with, adding humor works against all the serious stuff. There is a scene that feels like it is out a kid's disney film, where Hardy is forced to misbehave in a fancy restaurant. Playing for slapstick humor in this sophisticated script does not work.

With that being said, this movie certainly could have been worse. I would say it is about par for the Sony superhero outings. They deliver the goods to a certain degree, but lack the correct tone that Marvel has perfected. Their attempts at Fantastic Four are a good example. I don't regret seeing this in the theater. Timing of the release is one key factor. The post summer 2018 release schedule has been lacking any good action films.