It’s another slam dunk from Marvel. Venom was just awesome! There was plenty of humor and action that left me wanting more. Tom Hardy takes the lead in this stand-alone, Marvel Universe adaptation of Venom. You may remember that Venom appeared in the 3rd installment of Toby Maguire’s portrayal of Spiderman. Topher Grace was the only actor I could reference prior to this film as playing Venom and I was underwhelmed at best. When I saw that Tom Hardy (Bane from The Dark Knight Rises) was set to play Venom, I was very excited to see what direction they would go. I was not disappointed.
Tom Hardy plays journalist Eddie Brock is trying to take down Carlton Drake, the notorious and brilliant founder of the Life Foundation. While investigating one of Drake’s experiments, Eddie’s body merges with the alien Venom — leaving him with superhuman strength and power. Twisted, dark and fueled by rage, Venom tries to control the new and dangerous abilities that Eddie finds so intoxicating.
While Venom was a slightly slow burn in the beginning, the first 30 minutes is dedicated to setting the stage and allowing the viewer to really hate the antagonist, Carlton Drake. When Tom Hardy becomes Venom, then all hell breaks loose and the bad-assery begins. Without spoiling too much, the post-credits scene opens the door for a massive sequel starring Woody Harrelson as “Carnage” (another alien symbiotic organism that will rival Venom). Where this will land in the whole “Avengers universe” remains to be seen, but I have full confidence that the addition of Tom Hardy’s Venom will rightfully find his place. In fact, I’m willing to say that Venom is by far my favorite in the Marvel universe so far, with Thor as a close second. I give Venom a big thumbs up!
