Venom: Let There Be Carnage

In the bonus scene at the end of the first Venom movie, fans were teased with the special appearance of Cletus Kasady; a deranged serial killer who would one day fuse with the spawn of the symbiote dwelling in Eddie Brock. The fusion would result in the deadly Carnage, whose red body is 10 times more powerful than that of the black alien being, Venom.

In this sequel from 2021, Venom and Eddie Brock are on the outs. Eddie is tired of being bonded to an alien creature that craves human brains. It hasn't been all bad, as Venom has helped Eddie regain some of the prestige he lost when his life spiraled out of control resulting in losing his investigative reporting job and girlfriend at the same time. Venom is growing bored with a diet of chocolate and raw chicken. But above all else, Venom wants to be appreciated for the ways he's changed Eddie's life for the better, despite a very schizophrenic living arrangement that puts Brock just a bit on edge. It all comes to a head when Venom takes off in search of a new host.

Eddie thinks that his life is finally getting back to normal. Maybe he'll even reconcile with his ex, Anne. However, it seems that Eddie and Venom are destined for each other once again when Kasady escapes from death row, bonded to Venom's DNA as the rampaging Carnage, and threatening to kill Anne unless Venom and Eddie sacrifice themselves to him!

Cletus Kasady/Carnage were the big draws for fans to hit the theaters. I admit, I was thrilled about the prospect when Woody Harrelson popped up on screen in the first film. But really what made this such an entertaining movie was the dialogue between Eddie Brock and Venom. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I learned that Venom was voiced not by Jai Michael White or Khary Payton but Eddie Brock himself, Tom Hardy! When a single actor plays 2 roles on screen at the same time, there's always a time lag that ruins the illusion. Yet, here, they've managed to make it work so seamlessly. And the two characters are written so well. I'd subscribe to a podcast of just Brock and Venom going back and forth at it. They're so hysterical together.

Another plus for the sequel is the director. CGI and blue screen icon Andy Serkis. I for one applaud his efforts. Finally, they're was a comic book movie that didn't use slo-mo during the action scenes. Plus, Serkis really seemed to understand the whole dual nature of both Venom and Carnage with their subsequent hosts. Which makes sense considering the troubled nature of Serkis' most iconic starring roll: Gollum/Smeagol!

Take out the credits, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage is 90 minutes of fun. It's also got a heavy true crime vibe to it as Brock tries to uncover where Cletus Kasady hid the bodies of all his victims during his murder spree. Really, it we could have just had Eddie and Venom kicking the crap out of each other and the crime angle, I would have been just fine with it as the movie. Harrelson's character actually was lessened when he fuses into Carnage. 

That's right: I could have done without the Carnage. I'd be a bigger fan of this movie without Kasady becoming Carnage. Though I doubt very many audiences would have shown up for Venom: Let There Be Cletus. 

There remains 1 more Venom film. I honestly can't believe that Let There Be Carnage came out in 2021. I could have sworn this film was from 2023. I didn't go to a lot of comic book films during the height of COVID and in a way I'm glad. So many haven't been all that great. With ticket prices being so freaking expensive, I'd rather wait a while and see it later on for free. I think I would have hated this movie if I paid $12 to see it in the theater. Besides, I obviously didn't wait that long to see it, since I thought it only came out about 18 months ago.

Worth Consuming!

Rating 8 out of 10 stars.

Morbius

I'm not sure why 2022's Morbius got so much hate. The film isn't very long, clocking in at about 1 hour and 40 minutes. An origin story, it doesn't drag things out too badly. The plot is pretty cut and dry.  Jared Leto's acting is way better than his Joker from Suicide Squad. Matt Smith is fantastic. The visual effects are pretty good. With exception of just 1 fight scene, the dreaded slo-mo effects are virtually non-existent in the movie. In fact, it's a pretty fast paced action horror movie that seems more on par to star Wesley Snipe's hybrid vampire hunter, Blade than being a Sony Pictures film set in the Spidey-verse. 

So why am I not singing it's praises? Mainly, because I was so bored with this movie.

I DVR'd Morbius last Thanksgiving. I had passed on going to see it in theaters because of how much hate the movie was getting in the reviews as well as my social media feeds. Going to the movies has gotten so expensive, if it's not something I'm thrilled to watch, I'm not going to suggest my godson and I go out to see it. I tried watching it during the holiday break. Then again at Christmas until finally finishing it yesterday. I just couldn't get into it.

The story of Morbius is fairly simple. Guy with a rare and crippling blood disorder becomes a doctor in hopes of curing himself. Using vampire bat DNA, Dr. Michael Morbius develops a cure. Only, it turns him into a living vampire. One who must consume blood in order to live; with all of the powers and none of the weaknesses of the traditional vampire. 

It all sounds a lot like the story of the Batman nemesis Man-Bat. It also sounds very similar to the origin story of another Spider-Man villain, the Lizard, who's work with iguana DNA in hopes of restoring his missing arm instead transforms the scientist into a rampaging reptile! While all 3 of these characters are certainly tragic figures, what separates Morbius from the others is that as far as I know, he's never been cured of his secondary affliction. To this day, Morbius struggles with the endless blood lust that boils inside of him, preventing him from becoming full vampire. 

If I had my choice to be able to affordably own the first comic book appearance of the Lizard, Man-Bat or Morbius, I'd choose Morbius every time. His role in the Legion of Monsters and Midnight Sons has made him such a bad ass character. Plus, he's got such a freaking awesome appearance and super cool looking costume design by legendary Gil Kane. For some reason, that level of excitement just didn't transfer very well onto the screen for me.

There's 2 extra scenes. I had to search for them on YouTube as the channel I recorded the movie from omitted them. Those 2 scenes piqued my interest into the potential of a Secret Six movie finally coming to fruition. However, I'm starting to think that if you can't use your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in the film, there's really no point for these movies. A good villain can sell tickets. But if he doesn't have a greater hero to battle, it won't be entertaining. 

In other words, despite being a fan favorite character, not every Marvel based friend or foe deserves their own movie. Maybe it's time for Sony to let Spider-Man remain at the House of Mouse along with all his amazing friends...

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

The Tony Stark era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe came to a close with Spider-Man: Far From Home. When I reviewed Endgame a month or two back, I expressed hope that this 'epilogue' would share a ton of light on how people adapted after the return of that missing half of the global population after Thanos' snap. And my request was granted!

Far From Home has Peter Parker (Tom Holland) reeling from the loss of his mentor, Tony Stark. A school class trip to Europe just might be the thing Spider-Man needs to get his head back together. Plus, Parker has made big plans to express his love to MJ (Zendaya). However, with a new Avengers-level threat taking aim at Central Europe, it appears that uber-spy Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has just hijacked Peter's vacation.

Fury introduces Peter to Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), a superhero from a parallel earth. He claims that Elementals in the form of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water have arrived on our world and seek to devour it. Beck believes that without Spider-Man's help, the lone survivor of his world, now named Mysterio by the press, cannot defeat the final and most powerful Elemental, Fire. 

All Peter wants to do is relax and be a kid. Thus, without really having his Uncle Ben around anywhere in the picture, the teenage superhero must decide whether or not if it's true that with great power comes great responsibility.

Far From Home is probably the best Spider-Man film to date. Tom Holland is the perfect Spider-Man. Sadly, he's about the only character here that is pretty true to the comics. That's not to say that I did not like the other characters. Zendaya's version of MJ grew on me compared from the first movie. I think I am okay with her being a little weird. And as much as I like Jacob Batalon's Ned Leeds; he's not the one from the comics. With this in mind, there were a couple of scenes in which I felt like I was watching a Teen Disney TV show and not a superhero spectacular.

Perhaps the most unforgivable representation in the movie is that of Marisa Tomei's Aunt May. I like that she's a more hip and cooler auntie. But I felt like Kevin Feige and company really decided to ramp up her sex appeal to appease the numerous fans who have salivated over her ever since first appearing in Captain America: Civil War. The frequent gratuitous rear end shots of her proves this. In all, it felt unnecessary.

There's another big reveal that is not true to the comics but it's a HUGE spoiler. I'm still on the fence about it. All I will say is that there are 2 extra scenes during the credits and one of them will change everything you thought you knew about the MCU Avengers' origins. Or at least make you question everything.

I didn't realize how long the movie is but honestly, I didn't feel like it was a lengthy movie. There's so much jammed packed action in this film, along with a lot of laughs. But I must admit that during the credits when I saw all the listings for those who worked on the Italy portion of this film, I said to myself, 'That happened months ago!' Meaning, I had forgotten how much distance Spidey and his friends ended up travelling all the way from NYC to Venice, London and other ports of call.

This is the type of film that can only be described as an epic. Lots happen here and for the most part, you will not be disappointed. However, I did start to feel in the last about 5 minutes of this movie that I was watching the ending to Shazam! I'm wondering if DC's family friendly film didn't get producers thinking about a younger target audience. 

For one thing, a Ramones song plays during the main wrap-up scene. And then when you have the first credits, you get funny animated illustrations and trick photography like you do at the end of Shazam! DC and Marvel are constantly criticized for when things seem too similar to each other (especially in such a short amount of time) and this is an instance when I point fingers at the House of Ideas stealing some concepts from the House that Superman Built.

Overall, I really loved this movie. But I thought that some instances were too similar to other superhero flicks. Plus, while totally fine with some changes in the characters, one just went over the line. And then there's that shocking twist. I just don't know how I feel about it. I'd love to process it with you here and now, my dear readers. But that would be too much of a spoiler. In a movie in which perception is the key theme, that spoiler is one you must see to believe.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Venom

The live action Venom movie finally dropped in theaters this weekend. I refused to read any reviews in depth. But I came across a lot of posts on social media bashing the crap out of the film. While I didn't allow any critics to dissuade me, I did not go into Venom with high expectations.

The biggest hurdle with doing a Venom movie is the absence of Spider-Man. The wall crawler is at the very beginning of Venom’s 30 plus years of existence in the Marvel Universe. This film being the introduction (reboot) of the Symbiote makes this a ‘superhero’ origin film.

Can a Venom movie without Spider-man be done? Answer: yes. Can it be done well? Answer: Yes! That doesn't mean that this Sony picture was without it's problems. The film is roughly two hours long. The first 45 minutes is filled with rather slow back story.

Venom starts with disgraced reporter Eddie Brock hitting rock bottom when one of his stories gets him fired. Eddie went after a brilliant scientist for unethical practices on the homeless in a series of clinical trials. Doing so made some powerful enemies and caused him to lose not only his job but his fiance.  But Brock's luck is about to change when one of the researchers gets him an inside look at the laboratory.

It's here that Brock becomes fused with an alien Symbiote recovered from a recent venture in space. After a narrow escape from security, Eddie awakes in his apartment to a terrifying voice in his head and a number of heightened senses and abilities. Eddie and Venom are now one. And it's here where the pace of the movie changes for the better.

Up until this point, Venom was turning out into a John Carpenter's The Thing meets Michael Crichton’s Coma. A bunch of scary piles of goo were being unleash on hapless homeless guinea pigs. However once Brock fuses with the Symbiote, the movie now becomes an sci-fi version of the Lethal Weapon flicks!

Tom Hardy's Brock is Danny Glover's Murtaugh. He's too old and tired for this crap. Tom Hardy is also the voice of the alien parasite Venom, probably thanks to a lot of auto tune. Regardless, Venom is the Mel Gibson character of Riggs. He's abrasive, bullying and what's going to keep Brick alive when the villains strike in order to retrieve their missing science project.

Of everything to expect out of the Venom film, a buddy cop comedy wasn't anywhere near my list of expectations. Nor was the main female role of Brock's love interest Anne, played by Michelle Williams. Anne is a pretty strong character that manages to escape the film never once being a damsel in distress. Williams character is a lot like Judy Greer's character in the Ant-Man films in that she knows that Brock is merged with Venom and pretty fierce. But Greer's character was nowhere near as badass as Anne!

Venom has a great ending with two secret end credit scenes. One was expected, involving a possibility of a sequel ( if the box office take is good.) But that second one blew away the remaining audience. So be sure to stick around for it.

I'm about done with my review and you might notice that I have not spent much time talking about the movie's villain. For one thing, Riz Ahmed’s character of Carlton Drake didn't feel like baddie. He's got a plan to save the Earth in regards to the experiments his company is doing with the Symbiotes. And while he racks up a body count, Drake does at least have his patients sign waivers prior to experimentation.

Also Drake's hired goon, played by Scott Haze, isn't slimy enough to hate. He's a formidable foe to Brock/Venom. But he's not a character I cared enough to see killed like I felt about Andy Serkis’ Klaw in the Black Panther movie.

A slow start with a hilarious turn as a buddy cop comedy-drama. A stronger than normal female lead. Plenty of not evil enough foes. This made for an unexpected and uneven result. In the end, Spider-Man wasn't missed but I hope he'll pop up in Venom's neck of the woods one day.

I give this film a solid 8.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10.