I enjoyed the first Venom movie and appreciate the character in the current superhero landscape. Venom is a smart-alecky, violent, antihero, portrayed well by Tom Hardy. With my thorough disappointment in recent movies and television shows presented in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I was glad to have a change of pace with this movie. Although I generally liked this movie, it didn’t quite measure up to the first one. Venom was still Venom, but part of the novelty of the character was gone. There were still funny lines and good action, but Carnage was overacted by Woody Harrelson. It was of an over the top portrayal of the character. Also, there was no explanation of Frances Barrison, the other villain in the movie, of who she was and how she got her superpowers and how it fit in with these two characters.
It’s hard to pinpoint where this movie fell short of the original yet still felt enjoyable. For one thing, it wasn’t always easy to tell who was who when Venom and Carnage were fighting each other. There were things that I enjoyed about the movie. One of my favorite parts was after Venom separated from Eddie Brock, he went to a rave party and was the hit of the party and was able to conceal his identity since everyone there just thought he was wearing a costume. I also like the character of Dr. Dan Lewis, who brought some comic relief with his interactions with Venom. I would recommend this movie as a fun two hours, even if it doesn’t quite live up to the original.
