Although it's due for release for later this week, there's a strict review embargo up for 'Venom' that ends later tonight - however the embargo doesn't extend to social media reactions, and they've been pretty negative so far.
While obviously full reviews are clearly a far better examination of a movie, not to mention actually seeing it yourself, these initial reactions do appear to be painting a picture that doesn't exactly portend good news for Sony. Most of the reactions seem to point to a huge variance in tone, whilst some pointed out that the movie itself is far behind the curve on where superhero movies currently are.
Meanwhile, Tom Hardy's performance was shown to be pretty weird, which tracks pretty much with behind-the-scenes footage we saw some time ago. Here's a selection of tweets so far from US journalists who saw the movie at its world premiere in Los Angeles last night.
Significant chunks of #Venom don’t work *at all* but there is some serious charm to the Eddie/Venom relationship. Not sure I had the intended reactions to some scenes but fun is fun - even when it’s totally ridiculous, right? It’s too bad they didn’t go for the R rating though.
— Perri Nemiroff (@PNemiroff) October 2, 2018
Action-sequences and Eddie and Venom's odd relationship are the highlights of #Venom but if Sony wants to move forward with a universe, it needs to just keep the few parts that work and scrap the large portion which does t.
— Brandon Davis (@BrandonDavisBD) October 2, 2018
Social embargo for #Venom is up. I talk about this a lot in my review but this is a movie that somehow slipped through a wormhole from 2004. That's my biggest take. It's a movie that spilled from the pre-MCU era through a crack in time and space.
— The Mothmeg 🔜 NYCC (@rustypolished) October 2, 2018
Not sure if Tom Hardy's weirdness sabotaged #Venom or saved it, but it has a self-aware cartoonishness, especially in its latter half. It's not "good," but it's better than expected. Doesn't feel like an R-rated film, am guessing the deleted 40min is just Hardy clowning around.
— Scott Mendelson (@ScottMendelson) October 2, 2018
Sorry to say that #Venom is pretty much a complete failure - a tonal mess that feels 15 years old, ignoring the storytelling strides that the superhero genre has made in recent years.
A few fun Venom-centric moments aside, it has nearly nothing to offer. Don't get your hopes up.
— Tom Horrorgensen (@Tom_Jorgensen) October 2, 2018
Our review of 'Venom' goes live tomorrow morning, with the movie itself going on release the same day.
