October 16, 2018 2 min to read

Venom

Deeply strange, sometimes funny, and highly confusing, Venom is a hot mess.

by Zach Saul

Somewhere deep in the recesses of reddit, psychology nerds are going nuts about how secretly freudian Ruben Fleisher’s Venom is. A strange, flubber-like goo is discovered by evil genius/philanthropist Calton Drake (Riz Ahmed) and the substance takes host in human beings giving them fantastic powers, but also restricting their free will. The Venom kills humans it’s not a proper biological match with, and Carlton’s staff begins to turn on his as he invites more and more volunteers to attempt to match with the mysterious substance. Journalist Eddie Brock learns this the hard way, as the Venom infects him and briefly terrorizes the city of San Francisco and his ex-girlfriend Anne. The goo has superhuman strength, a killer roundhouse kick, and of coarse - an insatiable hunger for everything. When Venom finds eddie he is quickly overtaken by a humorous judgmental voice reminding him of his weaknesses and inadequacies—much to Eddie’s chagrin.

Overtime, Venom takes a liking to Eddie, and the two decide they’ll use their powers for good instead of evil. What exactly sparks this shift isn’t ever truly explained - but a mutual hatred for Carlton Drake who originally discovered Venom is certainly at the root of their allegiance. For much of the movie Eddie and estranged Carlton Drake assistant Jenny Slate are furiously trying to convince people that her boss is a complete psychopath to no avail. Mr. Drake is a Harvey Dent-like figure in Venom who’s is so beloved by the public that they refuse to consider evidence to the contrary in any meaningful way.

The Good: As clunky as parts of Venom are, the Freudian comparisons are really fun to speculate on. When Venom is instructing Eddie on how to look powerful during the fight sequences, you can’t help but think of every time you’ve ever felt shame and the voices contributing to your insecurities. Venom at his best and worst moments feels very much like a cross between the Id and the Ego. The Id, is represented hilariously by Eddie’s insatiable hunger for aquarium fish, frozen french fries, and any other living thing crossing his path. The eventual marriage between Eddie and the formerly demonic alien goo represents his self-actualization and the triumph of his Superego.

The Bad: The dialogue/screenplay in venom borders between ill conceived and completely ridiculous. Venom is an interesting idea, but the character just isn’t anywhere close to developed enough for us to understand anything about his relationship to Eddie, human beings, or his own kind. Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake is a fun, albeit cartoonish villain - but doesn’t have a clear motive either besides a fervent desire to achieve scientific progress. The action scenes in Venom didn’t work for me either - it’s hard to feel any sense to attachment, suspense or interest in CGI goo ramming into each other as the camera orbits around san francisco as light speed. Venom just isn’t sure what it wants to be - I found it to be a deeply funny movie, but i’m not positive that was intentional on the part of the filmmakers, and whenever they tried to get serious it fell flat.