Note: This was written in 2018. Jesus this was two years ago already? Anyways, point is I wrote this not long after Venom came out. I still stand by like, all of this though, except the bit at the end where I say Marvel needs to keep making Spider-Man movies. This was a pre-Spider-Verse time guys.
When the Venom solo movie was first announced by Sony, I was interested for sure. As
a lifelong Spider-Man fan who was born in 1998, I was intimately familiar with Venom as a
character. I’m no expert on him, and he’s not my favorite Spider-Man villain (Mysterio and I are
married), but I have been a fan for around 20 years. So, of course I was interested. However, I
would not say I was excited. With news that it would not be connected to the MCU (Marvel
Cinematic Universe) or feature Spider-Man, my interest was combined with dread. Tom
Hardy’s casting and the whispers that it would be R-rated gave me some hope, but I absolutely
did not expect to enjoy this film. The first trailer, along with every other piece of news leading
up to its release such as the PG-13 rating and the 40 Fucking Minutes that were cut murdered
my hope that it would even be worth watching. However, I’m a movie fan, a Marvel fan, and a
Venom fan, so I knew I would watch it in theaters anyway. God I’m so glad I did.
Let me get this out of the way first: Venom (2018) is not a good movie. Hell, it’s a bad
one. It has a plot straight out of a 2004 superhero movie and the direction is passable at best.
Aside from two (or three depending on your point of view, but we’ll get to that), the
performances are serviceable, and dear god the whole Malaysia thing is unnecessary. I have to
go in depth on this one detail since I feel this highlights the story’s overall incompetence and
also it bothered me from the moment I first saw the movie. Okay so, in the beginning of the
film, a rocket belonging to the Life Foundation (the totally Not Evil Science Company TM owned
by the Not Evil Carlton Drake) crash lands in Malaysia. The rocket contains four symbiotes and
one survivor (who’s John Jameson which is a nice easter egg). Three of the four symbiotes are
accounted for and put in Science Tubes, but the fourth is supposedly missing. It’s revealed
when John Jameson is brought in an ambulance that this symbiote possessed him. It then
transfers itself onto another host and escapes. It then sees a patch with the Life Foundation
logo on it and…decides to go to the Life Foundation. Up until it turns out to be the Big Evil Boy
of the movie, it spends the rest of the movie body-hopping and going from Malaysia to the Life
Foundation HQ in San Francisco. You know…where they were going to…already take it. So, this
plot point is absolutely stupid, pointless, and borderline unforgiveable. Not only is it all those
things, it actively takes away any chance at building the relationship between it and Carlton
Drake, who becomes its host in the third act just so Venom can have a big dumb fight. This kind
of nonsensical writing plagues this movie, and that just adds to why I fucking love Venom.
A big part of Venom’s charm is that it’s so bad it’s good. Things like the Malaysia
plot line, or when Eddie Brock makes strange rage-induced constipated faces alone because of
his loud neighbor make this an absolute joy to watch. 2018 has been a good year for movies in my opinion, but I genuinely believe Venom was the best time I had watching a movie this year.
It’s been nearly two weeks and I’m still thinking about this movie. For god’s sake I watched it
again in theaters two days ago and all I can think of is how much I want to watch this again with
my friends. I’ve drawn fanart of this mess and I’m absolutely going to draw more. Here’s the
thing though, I wouldn’t be this enamored with Venom if it was all bad. Hell, I think Daredevil
(2004) is fucking hilarious but I haven’t drawn Ben Affleck or Jennifer Gardner. No, the truth is,
Venom has some unironically good shit in it.
Finally, I get to talk about the protagonist of our film, Eddie Brock, played by Tom Hardy.
Tom Hardy gives the funniest performance of the year in Venom. He plays Eddie as this weird
hunched-over caricature of an American man with a silly voice. His mannerisms are
movements are so over-the-top and cartoonish that they wouldn’t feel out of place in a Jim
Carrey movie from 1994. His comedic performance is even funnier because just about
everyone else is playing it completely straight. Eddie is supposed to be a normal guy, but he
feels like he’s from another world and everyone else is just too polite and/or socially anxious to
say anything about it. It’s fucking insane and I love every second of it. Now I know the way I’m
describing it sounds like Tommy Wiseau in The Room, but the difference here is that Tom
hardy’s performance is genuinely funny on purpose. This all makes up for the fact that Eddie
Brock is barely a person. The only character traits I can gather from the writing are that 1. He
wants to deliver the truth and 2. Normal Man. If anyone other than Tom Hardy played Eddie
Brock, Venom would be nothing. We’d all forget about it and I wouldn’t be here writing a
goddamn essay about it. But god Tom Hardy makes this movie, and not only as Eddie Brock,
but as the titular Venom as well.
When we first Venom’s voice in the second trailer, I had to know who voiced him. It
was the perfect Venom voice to me: it was deep and grizzly, and yet also slimy and creepy. The
monstrous voice reminded me of Daran Norris’s performance as Venom in the PS1 Spider-Man
game. Later on, I found out Tom Hardy voiced Venom too and holy shit does he nail it. The
Venom symbiote and its relationship with Eddie is where this movie goes from so bad it’s good
to actually having some genuinely funny moments. Venom takes a lot of inspiration from the
solo Venom comics of the 1990s, particularly the 1993 miniseries Lethal Protector. This is
apparent in the plot points such as the use of the Life Foundation and the appearance of Riot
(who we’ll also get to), and it is also apparent in its portrayal of Venom himself. You see, after
Venom’s initial introduction as a villain in the pages of Spider-Man, he became extremely
popular. The compelling story alongside the striking design made him instantly iconic.
Therefore, Marvel decided to spin him off into his own comics. When they did this, they made
him an anti-hero who progressively got sillier and sillier throughout the 1990s (until the early
2000s where they tried to make him scary again). This film clearly drew inspiration from that
era of the character, as Venom is a huge goofball. Tom Hardy’s dual performance as Eddie
Brock and Venom was a smart move, as he bounces off of himself perfectly. This dynamic is the
center of the film, and works so much better than I think anyone expected. Their dialogue is
the best part of this movie and results in many funny moments and one moment that’s closest
this movie comes to being touching. Towards the end of the film, it is revealed that Venom had
an off-screen character arc (also known as the only character arc in the film) where he decided
not to join his fellow symbiotes in eating everyone on Earth. When Eddie asks him what
changed his mind, Venom replies with, “You did Eddie. You did.” This only comes close to
working because Tom Hardy nailed the dynamic so well. The banter between Eddie and Venom
sounds like it leapt off a Venom comic from 1995 and into my heart. Because of how similar it
is to the comics, it reminds me of something else about their relationship: That Gay Shit.
Three pages in and we finally get to covering why this essay is called Venom (2018) dir.
Ruben Fleischer Is the Only Movie with Gay Characters. Something touched on by a number of
Venom writers is the idea that the symbiote and Eddie are in love and in a relationship. This
was something first introduced in the same comics that this film is reminiscent of. So, as a
bisexual man, it’s nice to see hints of that in this movie, even if it is just subtext that may not
even be intentional. This makes the film so much more enjoyable to think about and watch for
me and so many others in a similar camp as me. This film has ignited the imagination of LGBT
viewers in my generation and has surprisingly already become a bit of a cult classic. On Twitter
and Tumblr, many fans of the film are sharing their fanart of Eddie and Venom in romantic (and
sometimes ~sexual~) situations. Every time, I see this, it sparks my imagination and warms my
heart. The fact that this corporate cash-grab accidentally became something members of the
LGBT have latched onto makes me ecstatic and also fascinates me. I’m not even someone who
usually ships characters in movies, and yet I’m caught in its unique spell too. The thing is, I’m
glad I’m caught in its spell too.
My life has been…interesting recently. Not too long ago, I was at a low point. My
depression was bad and I was pretty much on a ledge. The thing is, after being at my absolute
lowest point, I picked myself up (with a lot of help from friends, family, therapy, and
medication) and made myself move forward and grow. However, even though a lot of it has
been positive, I’ve gone through a lot of change recently. Whether good or bad, this much
change can take its toll on a person, and it absolutely has on me. Emotionally I’ve been pretty
good, but I’m so tired and classes can be hard to get through. Then, I saw Venom. This movie
blew my imagination wide open. Sure, I’m still tired, but if I’m bored and tired in class, I can
wake myself up by drawing Eddie and Venom doing something cute or funny. If I find my mind
going blank or thinking sad thoughts I don’t need to deal with, boom I just think about sequel
ideas. For me, this movie is the gift that just keeps on giving.
Since I mentioned it, let’s talk sequel stuff. In one of the post-credits scenes for Venom,
we are given a look at Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kassidy a.k.a. Carnage. This is so fucking
exciting for a few reasons. First of all, Carnage is a fun villain. He’s essentially a red, more
powerful version of Venom with a personality akin to the Joker. Carnage just loves murder and
views it as ~art~. And god does he love being an artist. While this can, and has led to some
edgy stuff, but when done right Carnage is a riot (pun intended) and an intimidating threat.
Now the idea of a great actor like Woody Harrelson playing Carnage sounds like a dream come
true. I would kill a man to get Venom 2 with Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson just fucking
going nuts and having the time of their lives. Oh, and I think an R-rating would be pretty cool.
Some creative gore with Carnage and the symbiotes could be fun and make it stand out even
more from all the other superhero movies. However, it isn’t necessary, as a better script that
leans into the relationships and humor that worked in the first movie would be great. As a
matter of fact, I think leaning into the absurd ‘90s comics and making this almost the ‘60s
Batman for that era would be a great movie; basically, make it a loving parody/satire of the silly
comics these characters came from. Also, and this may be asking for a lot, but please make
Eddie and Venom’s relationship explicitly romantic. It would add such a great emotional center
to the series and make the dynamic so much more interesting. The next movie could have a
simple plot that concerns Eddie and Venom coming to terms with their feelings for each other
while also having to stop Carnage. It’s perfect; a nice, easy to follow story that gives plenty of
room for fun character interactions and a lot of growth. It’ll also give the series even more of
an identity to separate itself from the rest of the genre. Making Eddie and Venom officially gay
would be a smart move and Sony would be stupid not to make it. Oh, and if this series makes it
passed Venom 2, please introduce Toxin. Toxin’s fucking great. Honestly whatever Sony does,
as long as they play to the strengths of the original and LET MARVEL KEEP MAKING SPIDER-
MAN MOVIES, things should be good.
So yeah, Venom (2018) was a big surprise. Leading up to its release, I thought it would
be an uneventful bad movie, and yet, here we are. Sure, it’s a bad movie, but it’s bad in all the
best ways and it surprised me with some genuinely fun stuff. I’m shocked at the impact that it
made on not only me, but on a lot of people as well. It’s a movie that’s made the gears in my
head turn and put a smile on my face daily. Considering it’s breaking records in the box office,
it’s safe to assume there’s going to be a sequel, and man I can’t wait to be in the theater to see
that.
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