The official trailer is much better than the teaser, but I still have some exceptionally serious reservations about this film which I’ll detail below.
The first Venom teaser trailer, that we now can see was full of practical effects shots without the digital effects added, was a serious disappointment for many reasons. Not the least of which was missing shots of the title character.
Breakdown of the First Official Trailer
We’re going to get a straight symbiote to Eddie Brock transfer. That means that they are writing Spider-Man out of the story, which is a lot like Moby Dick without the whale.
In the comics, Peter Parker gets this cool new suit that is a living creature that gives him a black outfit with new powers, but eventually wants to control him.
So, Parker gets rid of the suit and it ends up with Eddie Brock who shares a hatred for Spider-Man with the symbiote.
It’s a marriage made in hell, but it sure makes for a great Spider-Man villain.
That’s all going to be absent here, which begs the question: who is Venom without Spider-Man?
Instead we’re going to get an evil organization called the Life Foundation who apparently wants to use the symbiote for evil purposes.
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is a journalist who gets infected with the symbiote while he’s investigating a story.
We don’t know if he works for the Daily Bugle like in the comics (the Marvel Studios version of Spider-Man doesn’t work for the Daily Bugle yet either).
Jenny Slate, who is mostly known for comedy roles, is playing a character who presumably works for Life Foundation and is incapable of pronouncing the word “symbiote,” which is a real word that existed before Marvel Comics started using it.
Brock starts to hear voices in his head and then meets some bad guys who want that symbiote back. But Venom is not in the mood to play along.
I certainly enjoy watching Eddie Brock talk to himself as “we.” Hardy is an actor who really commands the screen and he’s going to be able to pull off all the badassery and the vulnerability that would be needed to do this role. I’m not worried about that.
We’re starting to see a lot of effects shots at this point, including a motorcycle scene, and I’m disappointed. It’s entirely possible that they will clean up these shots and make them more dynamic in the final film, but I thought that would happen with Black Panther… and it didn’t.
I trust Sony even less than Marvel Studios, so take that for what it’s worth.
Finally, we get to the point that fans have been waiting for—the big reveal shot on Venom.
I think he looks right, and he’s suitably scary, but again, there’s an uncanny valley issue going on here that I sincerely hope they fix by the time the actual movie drops in October.
With all of that said, Venom looks pretty cool.
Some Observations about Venom and this Trailer
Venom has a Good Director - Rueben Fleischer is a writer/producer/director who has mostly done work in television, but is notable for helming Zombieland, which is a favorite of mine.
The Writing Team is Worrying - Will Beall has written for television up to this point, and the person who was brought in to punch up the script, Kelly Marcel, wrote the screenplay for, wait for it… Fifty Shades of Grey. I may be one of the few geeks out there that also follows Fifty Shades closely (for other reasons), so I can tell you right now that movie was structured better than the book, but the dialogue was abysmal. That writing team does not make me excited.
No Spider-Man - As I said before, Venom without Spider-Man is a big problem. There’s always a chance that Sony will find some way to give Spider-Man an appearance, but it’s clear that Venom’s origin is going to veer wildly off the comics it’s based on. If that’s the case, why bother? I seriously doubt that the writer of the Fifty Shades movie is going to give us a compelling character without that origin story.
Tom Hardy is great, but what’s with that accent? You won’t find a bigger Tom Hardy fan out there. I’ve seen movies like Bronson and Locke, which was a movie that was filmed entirely in a car, so I’ve done my time with Hardy, okay? I’m a fan. But Hardy’s New York accent is a little bizarre. It reminds me of Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. No offense. I’m a Costner fan too.
Sony Should Leave Superhero Movies to the Professionals - There’s something about this film that just strikes me as being made because Sony wants more money, and wanting to expand their selection of Spider-Man films since they still own the film rights to that character, and his roster of villains. I know most films are made for the purpose of making money, and I’m great with that, but you’ve got to put something else into the movie besides, “Hey, we had this property sitting around.” Sony has been pining for Spider-Man expansion films since the Sam Raimi days, and here we are, for better or for worse.
So… yeah, I’ve got some problems with this film from ground zero.
Then again, this trailer does have some good qualities, and its moved my interest meter from I’ll-Catch-It-On-Netflix to Maybe-A-Matinee-Showing.
I’m going to be the first person to make this HUGE caveat though. You can’t judge a movie by the trailer. This movie could be amazing despite my reservations.
It’s still six months away from opening in October. The only way to know for sure is to get a seat when it opens (during a matinee showing for me).
All images are copyright Sony and Marvel and used for the purposes of review.