Big business and mad scientists go hand in hand. At least they do when it comes to the movies. Sony Pictures and Marvel Comics unleash a new kind of super hero in Venom. Aimed squarely at those geeky comic book aficionados check out this violent thriller at Cineplex Cinemas and Landmark Theatres around B.C.
San Francisco is known as one of the most liberal cities in the world. With Silicon Valley the home of computers and the internet there is always a call to hold such corporate behemoths to the truth. Happy go lucky Eddie Brock seems to have the world on a string. Leading man Tom Hardy slyly plays this bloke who enjoys downtime with the upwardly mobile Anne Weying. Oscar winning actress Michelle Williams turns more than a few words as the paramour of a troubled young man. The two have a loving relationship until an innocent (?) mistake leads to a chain of events that seemingly impacts not only these two but the entire city at large.
Don’t blame it on the boogie – blame it on the business baddies. All roads in Eddie’s life – professional, personal, business and otherwise lead to a mysterious connection to Carlton Drake, owner of a revolutionary biotech firm. Cast as the pioneering geneticist of sorts is Ric Ahmed in a chilling portrait. Think of him as Elon Musk on steroids times 100 and pure evil and you get maybe half the picture.
Trying to uncover the truth – and going where you shouldn’t go – can lead to problems. Poor Eddie Brock through every fault of his own somehow gets spliced up with a snake like alien derived from outer space and he becomes Venom. Special effects see Hardy go from human to monster almost simultaneously. Natural chaos and catastrophe ensue.
Headaches galore plague Brock as he can’t believe what’s happened to him and what evil he can and does project onto others. Sly humour in a menacingly voice of evil tries to bring an element of levity to the situation. As it is it’s short lived.
Some of Venom works but In the end despite some good acting and special effects it doesn’t have the creative juices or ingenuity of other recent big screen events.
