In which Tommy Keeps Talking About Marvel (Adjacent) Movies

Wandered out last night to see Venom at the local Movie Palace.

I was pleasantly surprised.

You see, I wasn't excited. 

I read comics in the 90's.  That was right in my comics heyday. 

So I was Venomed pretty much to death, despite rarely picking up a Spider-Man or Venom comic.  Overexposure.  Marvel's strategy depended largely on putting Venom, Punisher, Ghost Rider or Wolverine on a cover, and having them have perhaps 3 panels worth of story within.

Like I said, I didn't read much of the character.  Spider-Man in general is probably the biggest dark hole in my comics ignorance.  It just never much appealed to me.

But the movie looked kinda interesting.

Again, pleasantly surprised.  Good performances from Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams. 

And I liked the way Eddie Brock was treated.  Not a bad guy.  A selfish, self-serving guy, who thinks a little too much of his career, for sure. 

I've long considered Tom Hardy this way:  He's an actor of incredible talent, but poor instincts.  If left to his own devices, or directed poorly, he's liable to muck up a performance.  But used and pointed wisely, he can own a flick.  And he did this one.

A couple minor complaints:  I really thing Sony should have gone ahead and followed Fox on making an R-Rated flick.  I think a little more gore, a little more violence might have contributed to the Horror/Sci-Fi vibe they were looking to channel, or perhaps should have looked to channel a little more strongly.

Language is another one.

SPOILER ALERT.

At one point, Eddie Brock and the Symbiote are having a conversation about personalities, and the symbiote refers to them as two losers.  It's a bit of dialog that rings hollow, somehow.  I'd be curious to hear how the reading went if they'd said "we're a couple of fuckups."

Last minor complaint:  I didn't follow closely, but there was some debate as to whether this venom exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The last note I'd heard was that they were considering this Marvel adjacent (for whatever that's worth).  There was one line of dialog that bothered me....Jenny Slate's poorly named Dora Skirth (Adorable skirt? what?) is telling Eddie Brock that the Life Foundation (or whatever) was going out searching for life.  If this is Earth adjacent.... New York got attacked by the Chitauri, they know Thor exists, and that there is most definitely life on other planets. 

To me, it's easily fixable by a line or two of dialog.  You could say that After the Battle of New York, they decided to go searching for resources because they know what's out there.  Or you could have Eddie Brock be a completely skeptical dick and say it was all some kind of conspiracy to rebuild New York....I think the latter could be worked into his character pretty easily.

Anyway, I'm rambling.  I didn't love the flick, but I liked it, and didn't feel like it was a waste of time.