I was not looking forward to this schizophrenic superhero movie, but I have to admit that it is genuinely entertaining.  Journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) runs with a story implicating a San Francisco businessman in shady dealings; soon Brock is out of a job and has lost his girlfriend (Michelle Williams) because he compromised her as a source.  Months later, Brock is infected by an alien symbiote, which results in a strange, symbiotic relationship between Brock and an alien voice in his head.  Occasionally he turns into Venom, the alien, when he needs to survive an attack or literally bite someone’s head off.

Ruben Fleischer’s film is a pernicious anti-superhero satire, sort of like Deadpool, with wild transformations and bursts of humor and violence.  It is far more enjoyable than it has any right to be, which is probably due to Tom Hardy’s totally relatable performance as a man coping with much more than he can possibly handle.  When the film goes off the deep end, as it does when Venom and Riot (another alien symbiote) fight to the death at the climax, it is too much, and not believable at all.  Of course, launching a rocket from the coast of San Francisco is pushing the limits of credibility, too.

Yet most of it seems to work.  The story is nicely grounded with Brock still trying to win back Anne (Williams), but she has already moved on with Doctor Dan (Reid Scott).  This does not make Brock happy, but Dan is important to the unspooling story and Brock’s future.  Thus, the human element is what drives the narrative, aided by the voice-over thoughts of the symbiote in Brock’s head.  And on the other side of the ledger is the power-hungry, insanely ambitious mogul Cameron Drake (Riz Ahmed), willing to sacrifice anyone and anything in the name of discovery and the credit for it.  Drake is a modern Dr. Frankenstein, albeit with no moral conscience and the wealth to do basically anything he wants.  It’s a scary thought that someone in his position could get away with so much.

The bottom line is that even while I generally dislike this kind of action / comic book / superhero nonsense, I found myself enjoying this one quite a bit, at least until the silly action climax.  Against my defenses, it penetrated with humor and nearly won me over.  I cannot qualify this as a really good movie, but it is certainly better than a lot of the stuff out there.  If you like superhero movies, you’ll probably love Venom.  It is fun, unique and almost good.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  20 December 2018.