Venom – Budget of $100 million – 1 hour and 52 minutes

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Eddie Brock is the host of The Brock Report.  He focuses on exposés that affect the underrepresented and ignored.  So he is ready to ask hard-hitting questions to Carlton Drake, the owner of the Life Foundation.  A few months ago, Drake’s exploratory space probe crash-landed in Malaysia and there have been rumors of numerous deaths caused by drug trials.  Eddie’s boss tells him to calm down a do a puff piece or Carlton could ruin the station.  Eddie untruthfully agrees.   Anne, Eddie’s girlfriend and lawyer for the Life Foundation, leaves her computer open.  Eddie logs in and reads confidential documents.  During the interview, Eddie confronts Carlton.  By the time Eddie gets home, he and Anne have lost their jobs.  In addition, he loses Anne too.  Six months later Eddie gets a call from Dora, a Life Foundation scientist.  She admires Carlton but she feels his experiments on the poor have become unethical.  Dora tells Eddie the crashed mission wasn’t a failure.  It succeeded in bringing back a new life form called Symbiotes.  Like transplants, if the perfect match host can be found, the Symbiote can merge with the human.  Carlton believes this will allow humans to live in outer space. His curiosity has become an all-consuming obsession.  So Eddie follows Dora’s lead into the Life Foundation but he will never come out the same.

Like most origin stories, this movie has a slow build.  While Eddie is a little funny, the movie doesn’t get comical until Venom and Eddie merge together.  Seeing the inner dialog between the two is a mix of Sunny and Cher with a mild Deadpool.  It will truly make you laugh.  The graphics are cool most of the time.   As it changes from Eddie to Venom and back during a motorcycle chase, Eddie starts to look more like a cartoon than a man.  And the final battle took too long to finish.  As Venom battles Riot, the “cool” factor has worn off and you start to look at your watch.  Since this is not a part of the MCU, it will not be compared to other movies like Ant-Man and the Wasp.  However, it pales in comparison with movies like Deadpool.  The end credits hint towards a part 2 but that will be unlikely.  With those flaws, its still has a ton of complex graphics never seen before, a decent storyline, a strong but morally bankrupt villain, and fun albeit wasted love story.   Also, stay after the end credits for a look into another universe.

I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars

You’re making us look bad – Venom

I’m sorry – Dora

I have a parasite – Eddie

He is killing you – Anne

It’s beautiful – Carlton

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