In this standalone Spider-Man spin-off, gonzo journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is infected by an extraterrestrial parasite that gives him superpowers while on a mission to expose Riz Ahmed’s corrupt scientist.
A nerd with a God complex (as signalled by his turtleneck sweater, zipped to the throat), Ahmed’s Drake has been covertly unleashing alien “symbiotes” on unsuspecting human hosts. Brock, on the other hand, waters his plants, gives money to homeless people and wears a leather bomber jacket.
The twist is that the parasite has a personality: “a loser” on his home planet, Venom can communicate with Brock once the two have fused, with a Batman-deep voice and a smiling, malevolent face that looks as though the Scream mask had a baby with Jack Nicholson’s Joker.
The first official instalment in Sony’s Marvel Universe (as opposed to the Disney-owned Marvel Cinematic Universe) manages to be both rushed and laboured, rattling through an agonising amount of setups before deciding on its split-personality buddy-comedy tone (deployed more efficiently in Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade). At least the CGI is clever, the consistency of Venom’s viscous, hostless form moving between molten metal and melted chewing gum.
