In late 2018, Sony Pictures’ anti-hero movie, Venom arrived in UK cinemas. The film – directed by Ruben Fleischer – starred Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams and focused on the character of Eddie Brock/Venom – a Spider-Man villain who was very popular during the 1990s.
Venom was conceived as one of many Spider-Man-related projects in development from Sony Pictures. Venom was heavily promoted in the run-up to its release, and that helped the movie perform very well at the box office.
But what was the critical reception? Did critics like Venom, or were they not sold on what they saw?
In this post, I am taking a look back at the initial critical reception to the movie. Below are a selection of review snippets, taken from critical reviews that were served up ahead of Venom‘s theatrical release.
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Venom (2018) movie review round-up
Here is what the critics said about Venom back in 2018:
- Tom Horrorgensen of IGN Movies Podcast, said: “Sorry to say that
#Venom is pretty much a complete failure – a tonal mess that feels 15 years old, ignoring the storytelling strides that the superhero genre has made in recent years. A few fun Venom-centric moments aside, it has nearly nothing to offer. Don’t get your hopes up.” - Kurtis Smejkal of 3 Angry Nerds called Venom “an outright disaster on so many levels.” He added: “This film is a waste of it’s film’s talent and of the audience’s time. There’s teases for the sequel but you couldn’t pay me to go see it.”
- Beatrice Verhoeven of The Wrap, said: “
#Venom wasn’t as bad as everyone was saying it was going to be. Tom Hardy is and always will be a great actor, and I laughed a lot — but I’m not sure whether that was intentional or not.” - Scott Mendelson of Forbes, said: “Tom Hardy’s performance in
#Venom is either Johnny Depp in the first PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN or Chris Klein in STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI. Either way, it’s not boring.”
- And finally, Brandon Davis of Comicbook.com, said: “Action-sequences and Eddie and Venom’s odd relationship are the highlights of
#Venom but if Sony wants to move forward with a universe, it needs to just keep the few parts that work and scrap the large portion which doesn’t.”
So, there you have it – the reception to Venom was not good. And these snippets were taken from the early social media reviews, which are usually more positive than the main reviews.
But did you agree with the critics? And if you have re-watched the film in recent months, has your opinion changed in any way? Sound off in the comments and let me know.
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I do hope this post about the Venom movie reviews has been helpful to you. If it has, then don’t forget to check out some of the recommended reads below, which also might prove useful.
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