Others Magazine

I tend to welcome any attempt to mix up the formula of superhero films – because we see so many movies about superpowered individuals fighting to save our planet. And that can get a bit boring or repetitive, right? Venom’s big point of difference is this head-biting alien lifeform is one of Spider-Man’s most popular villains. A bad guy as the hero? Apart from the more offensive and controversial Deadpool, few baddies get their own shot at the spotlight.   

WHAT’S NOT

Tom Hardy was memorable as beefcake baddie Bane in The Dark Knight. While he has another chance here to be intense, bonkers and cartoony, Hardy doesn’t quite sink his teeth in as a “regular” guy wrestling with being consumed by a deadly space villain. But it’s not his fault; Venom suffers from a destabilising identity crisis. With most characters and plotlines being quite standard for this sort of comic-book movie, Venom was meant to soar on its novelty factor of being about a bad guy. However, the deliberate move to present Venom as being not so bad after all comes to dominate more and more of the storyline. As we head towards the usual showdown, Venom asks us to believe the fierce alien lifeform has developed compassion for humanity – by meeting Eddie, who is a selfish, somewhat ruthless example of flawed human. Um, really? Eddie is the reason Venom doesn’t want to kill us all? Hmmmmmm.

Maybe you have noticed how popular it can be in movies and TV to turn baddies into goodies. At best, these anti-heroes present to us how all people are capable of some goodness or, at least, can deserve sympathy or compassion. We also can see ourselves in anti-heroes because, admit it, we’re not as great or pure or right as we love to think we are. But Venom pushes this idea further into territory where we are somehow meant to believe that a bad-to-the-bone villain is good because, um, well, actually, I don’t know. Strong reasons are not presented for the apparent change of heart Venom displays, as he pauses on biting people’s heads off and rethinks his alien race’s plans to consume Earth. Without powerful evidence or motivation for Venom’s minor shifts in outlook, his movie becomes an unconvincing attempt to make me believe that being bad isn’t so bad after all. There’s something misleading and dangerous about that. I already can tend to tell myself that my not-so-good behaviour isn’t as not-so-good as I actually know that it is. Venom seems to want to support me in that thinking. Good thing comic-book villains aren’t the only place to turn when it comes to working out the difference between good and bad – and what it looks like to be a real hero (not a villain dressed up to be more than they are).

Watch another 60 Second Verdict.