Venom
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Written by Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinkner (screenplay and story), Kelly Marcel (screenplay), and Will Beall (screenplay), based on the Marvel comics by Todd McFarlane & David Michelinie
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, Michelle Lee, Mac Brandt, Sope Aluko, Wayne Péré, Scott Deckert, Marcella Bragio, Christian Convery, Sam Medina, Ron Cephas Jones
Soundtrack: Ludwig Göransson
Another week, another Riz Ahmed movie, and another big surprise.
I will admit, as I did last month, that it’s been such a down year for movies that I may well be grading on a curve at this point, but I will say unequivocally that in terms of new releases, Venom is the most fun I’ve had in a theater in 2018. Big time critics may not value that (or even experience it), but I do.
The film is a horror-comedy-action-sci-fi mash-up that won’t work for everyone, but it won me over early and never betrayed my trust. It’s certainly the best thing Ruben Fleischer (who I’d say I generally like) has done since Zombieland.
Now, you may ask, “Is there a lot of CGI in this movie?” and the answer is yes, there is, but, there is also a noticeable commitment to keeping things practical where they could. For example, at the beginning of the film, there’s a spaceship that crashes, and when you see a response team at the crash site, they’re not looking at a blue screen, they’re looking at, as Daniel Craig’s James Bond might say, “A bloody big ship,” and that warmed my heart immediately; not to mention there’s some lovely use of San Francisco as a location.
As far as performances go, I’m not sure you can call whatever Tom Hardy is doing good or bad, it just kind of is, and since this isn’t Citizen Kane, I was fine with it; and, frankly, he pulled off the humor much better than I would have expected.
Beyond that, I like the way the Venom story and characters have been updated to present day-sensibilities (making Eddie Brock essentially a VICE reporter is particularly choice), and, even though the studio opted out of going for the R-rating (despite the success of Deadpool and Logan), it’s clear to me that the movie owes something, at least in spirit, to the 80s splatter films of Frank Henenlotter and Stuart Gordon (as well as Chuck Russell’s The Blob, which we’ll get to shortly), perhaps even Devil’s Express.
It’s not the most original screenplay in the world in terms of plot (hello, Iron Man), but it at least tries to do it’s own thing tone-wise.
As I said, it won’t work for everyone, but it’s certainly better than the critical reception would have you believe; perfect for a Halloween season comic book fix.
Rating: ★★★★½
Original Release Date: August 5, 1988
Directed by Chuck Russell
Written by Chuck Russell & Frank Darabont, based on an earlier screenplay by Theodore Simonson and Kay Linaker, based on a story by Irvine H. Millgate
Cast: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Candy Clark, Joe Seneca, Del Close, Paul McCrane, Robert Axelrod, Beau Billingslea, Michael Kenworthy, Douglas Emerson, Jamison Newlander, Judith Flanagan, Art LaFleur, Sharon Spelman, Billy Beck, Jack Nance, Bill Moseley, Erika Eleniak, Ricky Paull Goldin, Frank Collison, Jack Rader, Clayton Landey, Noble Craig, Julie McCullough
Soundtrack: Michael Hoenig
Full disclosure, I saw this in a double feature with the 1958 original, which gave me an appreciation I might not have otherwise had (not that I hadn’t seen both versions before). I’d give the original a review as well, but it was on a pretty faded archival print and I just don’t feel right about judging it in that way.
Anyway, in terms of 80s horror (and remakes in general), Chuck Russell’s The Blob is definitely up there.
It’s essentially a sliced, diced, sauteed, and smothered (get it?) version of the original (Blob comes to Earth in a meteor, eats a hobo, wreaks havoc in a small town, etc.), with more than a dash of Stephen King mixed in for flavor (no surprise there given Russell co-wrote the screenplay with Frank Darabont), and a refreshing attention to detail (no joke, I think even the cliche jump-scare cat is set up). Seriously, if you like structure in your plot, this is the movie for you.
And, it’s properly gooey and gory and gross, although it’s amazing how some of the practical effects don’t look all that different from their counterparts thirty years earlier.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s not the best-acted movie I’ve ever seen (although that aspect is still an upgrade over the original), but I can forgive that based on the strength of the visuals and the story.
Overall, 1988’s The Blob certainly isn’t as strong as Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers or John Carpenter’s The Thing, but, for the genre and the time it was made, it deserves to be in the conversation of more-than-worthwhile remakes.
Rating: ★★★★☆
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