In this action/horror/suspense/comedy/thriller/superhero/anti-hero genre, Venom is like a buddy cop movie akin to 48 Hours, if Eddie Murphy had ADD, was an investigative reporter built like Bane, and a was bit more neurotically disturbed by Nick Nolte being inside his head, and of course, if Nick Nolte was a horrific head-eating symbiote.  Although, I do get the feeling Nick Nolte or his characters might have just done that if they had the chance.

If you go into this NOT caring about comic book continuity, then you will be in for a pleasant cinematic ride, but if you are a fan of Venom in the Spiderverse, then you may be disappointed.  Let’s get to the list.

1.  Spiderman is nowhere to be found or heard of.

Spiderman isn’t even the reason Venom takes on the properties it/he does.  Spidey isn’t even mentioned.  He’s not even hinted at, that I know of.  There may be way more nods to the comics than I’m aware of.  I’m not the comics expert, so I don’t care, but if you wanted to see your Venom, you may very well take a star, possibly more, off your rating, bringing it to at best 9/10 stars.

2.  There were many trite/campy moments.

In films like these, there HAS to be those moments, a nod here, a cool wind blowing pose there, but how much is the right amount.  For me, I realized it wasn’t taking itself too seriously at times, and Tom Hardy’s performance was just amazingly golden, showing off how much more range he can bring to the big screen.  I loved the movie, but even I might begrudgingly take a star off here, myself because it could have been so much darker and terrifying (as it was attempting to do in a lot of scenes) if just it took more time with serious moments.  This could bring your rating to 8/10, or even less.

3.  The villain was an egomaniacal cliche’.

He was a sociopath that wanted to be the next stage of constructed evolution, blah blah.  The actor didn’t do a terrible job, but didn’t really add much to what he was given, and that’s probably not his fault.  I’m taking a star off here, as well, but you may be 7/10 stars at this point.

4.  The action took away from substance.

Even with my ADHD mindset, I could have used some more character development from at least the villain, maybe even the love interest, which wasn’t too annoying, and even had some cool moments.  However, this can bring you down to 6/10 stars.

5.  What the hell genre…s is or are this or these?

Don’t get me wrong, I love multi-genre, but when you put too many ingredients in something, you’re just going to piss off Gordon Ramsey.  You might feel as Schmoes Know mentioned on YouTube that this entire movie is “a symbiote that just never found the host.”  For some of you pickier movie watchers, this could be a 5/10 at best, even lower, especially if you are a fan of the Venom comics.

But, I’m me, and I can adapt well to different pacing, genres, etc.  I would give this a 7/10.  I may buy it.  I may not.  I am glad I saw it, though.