Riley Keyes

I love Venom and truly wanted to love this movie, but the lackluster writing and acting made that difficult. Rather than introducing a suitably compelling antagonist with distinctive features, the writers chose to “reinvent” the Venom wheel by exposing an irrelevant sociopath to alien powers. Like the first movie, Venom’s fight is essentially with itself. Although, a resulting benefit of this approach is the illumination of Eddie and Venom’s friendship. Their symbiotic relationship is wholesome to say the least, as seen when coming together in the end to defeat their enemy. Additionally, the presentation of Venom’s own identity in this movie differs in a great way from the Toby Maguire Spider-Man Series Venom; one that portrayed the alien as a malevolent parasite using humans solely to further its personal survival. Eddie’s Venom has a sense of morality as well as a personal investment in Eddie’s life. We may eventually come to love this new Venom. Through his connection with Eddie, he shows to be a true sweetheart. This can be seen especially when attempting to cook breakfast for Eddie, his hopefulness in reuniting with Anne, and in his sacrifice away from eating humans despite desperately wanting to do so. This duo has the potential to take on endless, invigorating challenges. Instead, it appears their storyline has fallen victim to the typical mediocre movie formulation that our current era is spewing out, seemingly against common viewers’ wills.