.jpg)
.jpg)
Venom II : Misses the point
By Israa Radaydeh, Jordan News
- +
- -
Venom: Let There Be Carnage shares with its predecessor a quality that is sometimes lost in superhero movies — It does not take itself seriously. اضافة اعلان
Rarely has a film reflected so strongly the difference of opinion between critics and audiences. On the aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, Ruben Fleischer’s Venom received a 30 percent critic score and an 81 percent audience score and grossed more than $856 million.
Venom 2 has some fascinating moments, particularly those between Eddie and the symbiote, which allows it to maintain its fun dynamic.
However, the film is the victim of its own carnage — there are too many ideas that get lost in the general chaos.
Overview
Heated by the success of the Deadpools, among other things, Sony pulls one of its great enemies, Venom, out of its hat.
In the movie, Eddy Brock is an investigative television reporter who documents the great ills of society by questioning those responsible for social or environmental disasters.
He comes across Carlton Drake, a sort of Elon Musk who plays with his rockets and wants to solve problems by colonizing other planets. In doing so, Drake brings back the infamous symbiotic, a viscous paste, which must merge with a living being to survive.
The film unfolds a succession of events — without a tail or head — and it hardly arouses interest.
(Photo: IMDb)
Tom Hardy, playing Brock, seems to have lost himself completely and spends the film wincing, angry, or widening his eyes. His first action sequence unfolds in what appears to be an unintentional homage to Buster Keaton in a Fast and Furious.
In what some may argue is a comedic moment, Brock even ends up in the lobster tank of a large restaurant, causing a ruckus.
But the action sequences do not save the film, lacking point of view and ideas.
The critter
Not only is the critter maddeningly ugly, with a CGI overdose that is often nauseating, but it goes from evil creature to friend in just a few scenes.
Hearing Venom say he is ready to defend Earth because he has found a good friend in Eddie, who looks like him and warms his slimy little heart, should elicit some yellow laughs from comic book fans.
Additionally, the constant inner monologue between Eddie and Venom, spread out over 3/4th of the scenes, is clumsy at best.
There is no intention of doing justice to the shadowy character, who is remixed and softened to serve a franchise project obviously stretched out until the end credits — with the same finesse as The Amazing Spider-Man: Fate of One Hero in a post-credits scene that looks like a parody.
Rewriting the story
Detaching Venom from Spider-Man but keeping Eddie Brock, while the three of them are linked in the comics, has forced the writers to partially rewrite the story.
Brock is still a reporter who loses his job and his fiancé, but his hatred towards Peter Parker does not exist here.
(Photo: IMDb)
Transformed into Elise Lucet from San Francisco, he is built in relation to Drake, who acts as a pseudo bad guy with a plan to save humanity by destroying it.
Problem: This antagonist played by Riz Ahmed, who is supposedly a good actor, is incredibly flat. Brock is therefore an empty shell, an electron that has no basis to exist, and never has the scale of a hero — let alone that of an anti-hero.
However, at a time when the legacy of comics is diluted in the industrial production of superheroes, the question of loyalty is no longer the priority of the public.
From this side, Venom looks like a ship without a captain, created piece by piece by different departments, before being assembled on a factory line and spread with digital layers in post-production.
There is no consistency in the film, which hesitates between the generic blockbuster and the mutant buddy movie.
The action does not catch up with the film: It plunges it into the purgatory of blockbusters whose budget (a hundred million here) seems indecent given the rendering in the image.
The Venom spectacle thus boils down to a chase and two or three impersonal fights, with almost zero staging intention.
When a confrontation in a smoky building lobby looks like the most original scene, something is wrong. And when high-tech drones are literally thrown at the hero, with no logic other than creating beautiful blue lightning, it’s because no one seems to be in control.
Without a filmmaker’s gaze, Venom is reduced to a shiny mass of CGI, totally disconnected from the realistic and bland universe of the film.
The climax is an apotheosis at this level, with an illegible confrontation where reality vanishes for a few minutes, giving way to a moment of non-cinema totally emptied of energy, meaning, and interest. The beast may be imposing and have a big mouth, but there is never a feeling of power, heaviness, or agility.
Read more in Trending
Rarely has a film reflected so strongly the difference of opinion between critics and audiences. On the aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, Ruben Fleischer’s Venom received a 30 percent critic score and an 81 percent audience score and grossed more than $856 million.
Venom 2 has some fascinating moments, particularly those between Eddie and the symbiote, which allows it to maintain its fun dynamic.
However, the film is the victim of its own carnage — there are too many ideas that get lost in the general chaos.
Overview
Heated by the success of the Deadpools, among other things, Sony pulls one of its great enemies, Venom, out of its hat.
In the movie, Eddy Brock is an investigative television reporter who documents the great ills of society by questioning those responsible for social or environmental disasters.
He comes across Carlton Drake, a sort of Elon Musk who plays with his rockets and wants to solve problems by colonizing other planets. In doing so, Drake brings back the infamous symbiotic, a viscous paste, which must merge with a living being to survive.
The film unfolds a succession of events — without a tail or head — and it hardly arouses interest.
(Photo: IMDb)
Tom Hardy, playing Brock, seems to have lost himself completely and spends the film wincing, angry, or widening his eyes. His first action sequence unfolds in what appears to be an unintentional homage to Buster Keaton in a Fast and Furious.
In what some may argue is a comedic moment, Brock even ends up in the lobster tank of a large restaurant, causing a ruckus.
But the action sequences do not save the film, lacking point of view and ideas.
The critter
Not only is the critter maddeningly ugly, with a CGI overdose that is often nauseating, but it goes from evil creature to friend in just a few scenes.
Hearing Venom say he is ready to defend Earth because he has found a good friend in Eddie, who looks like him and warms his slimy little heart, should elicit some yellow laughs from comic book fans.
Additionally, the constant inner monologue between Eddie and Venom, spread out over 3/4th of the scenes, is clumsy at best.
There is no intention of doing justice to the shadowy character, who is remixed and softened to serve a franchise project obviously stretched out until the end credits — with the same finesse as The Amazing Spider-Man: Fate of One Hero in a post-credits scene that looks like a parody.
Rewriting the story
Detaching Venom from Spider-Man but keeping Eddie Brock, while the three of them are linked in the comics, has forced the writers to partially rewrite the story.
Brock is still a reporter who loses his job and his fiancé, but his hatred towards Peter Parker does not exist here.
(Photo: IMDb)
Transformed into Elise Lucet from San Francisco, he is built in relation to Drake, who acts as a pseudo bad guy with a plan to save humanity by destroying it.
Problem: This antagonist played by Riz Ahmed, who is supposedly a good actor, is incredibly flat. Brock is therefore an empty shell, an electron that has no basis to exist, and never has the scale of a hero — let alone that of an anti-hero.
However, at a time when the legacy of comics is diluted in the industrial production of superheroes, the question of loyalty is no longer the priority of the public.
From this side, Venom looks like a ship without a captain, created piece by piece by different departments, before being assembled on a factory line and spread with digital layers in post-production.
There is no consistency in the film, which hesitates between the generic blockbuster and the mutant buddy movie.
The action does not catch up with the film: It plunges it into the purgatory of blockbusters whose budget (a hundred million here) seems indecent given the rendering in the image.
The Venom spectacle thus boils down to a chase and two or three impersonal fights, with almost zero staging intention.
When a confrontation in a smoky building lobby looks like the most original scene, something is wrong. And when high-tech drones are literally thrown at the hero, with no logic other than creating beautiful blue lightning, it’s because no one seems to be in control.
Without a filmmaker’s gaze, Venom is reduced to a shiny mass of CGI, totally disconnected from the realistic and bland universe of the film.
The climax is an apotheosis at this level, with an illegible confrontation where reality vanishes for a few minutes, giving way to a moment of non-cinema totally emptied of energy, meaning, and interest. The beast may be imposing and have a big mouth, but there is never a feeling of power, heaviness, or agility.
Read more in Trending
