The much anticipated anti-hero film of the year, Venom, was released in the United States on October 5th and follows the story of an investigative journalist named Eddie Brock as he tries to get to the bottom of suspicious experiments performed by the Life Foundation. During his investigation, Eddie becomes host to a symbiote named Venom, giving him superhuman abilities and a conflicted moral compass. This character was adapted by Marvel in 2007, but the rights to Marvel’s source material have shifted since then. Venom and Eddie’s storyline is usually told in relation to Spider-Man, but, because of these changes, the story of Venom occurs separately from the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

One of the first things you’ll notice while watching this movie is the phenomenal casting of Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock. Hardy has been in several different roles from Bane, in The Dark Knight Rises, to John Fitzgerald, in the Academy Award winning film The Revenant. In this movie, Hardy essentially plays two separate characters, Eddie Brock and Venom, a parasite who uses Eddie as a host. Jumping between these two types of personalities could prove to be difficult, but Hardy does the character justice and makes subtle yet clear distinctions that let the audience know who has more control at the moment. Matched by the performance of Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake, the head of the Life Foundation, and Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, Eddie’s former lover, the casting is easily one of the movie’s best elements.

Venom was marketed as an anti-hero movie. Because of this, there was a lot of directions the movie could take to create a dynamic and conversation worthy movie. However, the plot is lacking. Without revealing too much, it feels as though a vital part of the movie has been left out in regards to how Venom and Eddie feel about one another and how they deal with cohabitation. There may have been cut footage or these scenes might not have been in the script at all. Regardless, it is a detriment to the flow of the movie. The script as a whole feels unfinished. Dialogue between characters at times feels nonsensical or out of place. It is now known that Tom Hardy himself had issues with the script saying it was not well developed and that certain scenes made no sense in the context of the movie.

Despite these drawbacks, one of the major advantages of this movie is the way it’s filmed. Contrasting colors and shots with varying depth bring life to the movie and make for an interesting viewing experience. There is imagery interspersed within the film that plays with the concept of light versus dark, visually representing the conflict Eddie feels within himself as well as his conflict with the main antagonist, Carlton Drake.

Additionally, the movie utilizes audio contrast frequently, predominately when there is a switch between Eddie’s and Venom’s actions. Sharp auditory transitions paired with the aesthetically pleasing imagery make up for what the film lacks in its script. The only issue with the visual aspects of the film is when Venom is fighting in his full form. Venom’s graphics themselves aren’t bad, but when his entire body is in frame and moving around, it takes away from the previously seen graphics that were much better and more believable.

Marvel’s newest adaptation of the comic book anti-hero Venom did well in the box office and was an, overall, good movie. Detaching the story line from Spider-Man gave way for new creative liberties, both good and bad. Although it is definitely not Marvel’s best work, Venom is worth seeing, just maybe when it’s available for free on a streaming service.