Welcome, one and all, to a quick reaction post. Today, I’m looking at the new trailer for Venom from Sony Pictures.
Now, there was some hoo-ha earlier in the year when the studio put out a trailer for the film that didn’t include the titular character, and honestly, I can understand why people were upset about that. I was pretty disappointed myself. Venom was always one of those characters that I really loved whenever he appeared, so I’ve been waiting for a proper look at how the film is going to treat him.
Let’s start the obvious thing here: how does the film version of the character look? Well, looking at this side-by side comparison, in my opinion, it looks pretty awesome. The shark-like teeth are a little different from the comics, but they’re a decent addition. It makes sense as a design choice too as it’s a pretty terrifying sight. And that tongue … Gene Simmons eat your heart out. That little bit of slobber hanging from it is such a small thing, but it really adds to the effect for me too.
So, visually, it’s pretty good, at least in a still. The problem I have with the look is that, as you’ve likely see in the trailer above, the animation during the character talking looks a bit cartoony. Yes, I am aware that it’s a comic book film. The thing is though, everything else in the trailer kinda makes me think that they’re going down a body horror route with the film, at least partially. That should be shocking like the transformation in American Werewolf In London. And no, this is not going to be one of my ‘railing against CGI’ posts; if anything, the way that Venom works necessitates the use of CGI. Achieving some of the things that Venom does in the trailer without it would be bridge to far, I think. No, CGI seems appropriate here, but the animation style moves it away from the darker feel of the trailer and into hokey territory for me.
Despite this mixed bag visually though, I am excited. The trailer hits the right points for me in terms of tone, and what we see of the story seems decent enough as a set-up. My hope is that there’s a fair bit of internal struggle between Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and the symbiote. The trailer does seem to indicate that Eddie is pretty much fighting a losing battle in that regard, but that opens up a fair bit of potential conflict for Eddie, which should make for compulsive viewing if it’s played right.
And as to the action scenes, I’ve seen a few people criticize how many there seem to be, but there are two things to remember here. First is that the trailer is a lot shorter than the final film will be. Using plenty of action in the trailer isn’t necessarily indicative of high levels of action in the film itself, it’s simply a way to engage audiences. Second, it is a comic book film. I mean, even if they really are going for something darker here, you should really expect action in this type of film. As long as the scenes (both action and otherwise) fit with the story they’re telling and help advance things as it goes on, it’s all good.
Cast-wise, I didn’t see anything in the trailer to make me think, “This is going to be terrible …” Tom Hardy will be the key though, being the star. Thus far, I like what I’m seeing of him as Eddie Brock, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it all comes across well in the end.
So, all in all, the trailer has got me excited. In that regard, it achieved what it set out to do, at least with me. But what about all of you? Are you a Venom fan? What did you think of the trailer? Let me know in the comments below.
Matt Doyle Media 
While I’ve kind of stopped watching all the hero movies, finally having had enough of them, that actually looks really interesting. It will be interesting to hear what people think once the film is out.
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Aye. I’m not expecting it be as popular as something like Guardians of the Galaxy, but I’m going it’ll be good. Only time will tell how well it goes down with fans though.
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I am excited to see this movie. I was disappointed from the teaser trailer, but after seeing this, I am hype.
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Yeah, the teaser that featured no Venom at all seemed like a doomed-to-fail attempt to catch the hype with all the super hero trailers arriving around the same time. They surely msut ahve know how that would go down? This though is much more like it.
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Yeah I felt uneasy since the only indication of Venom was a bit scene of the symbriote. Now we can see it in action and I can safely say this is going to be good.
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That’s certainly my hope! That it won me over despite being CGI heavy is a good sign from my own standpoint too.
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Agreed! It looks really good.
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Tom Hardy can do no wrong. Even if the movie isn’t everything I hope it will be, I’d rather re-watch the trailer over and over than sit through Spider Man 3 again. Emo Toby Maguire will forever haunt my nightmares.
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Heh. It’s amazing how variable Spider-Man adaptions can be. How did you find his appearance in Avengers Civil War?
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I like the new actor and the idea that the series will grow and mature with him. We’ll have a different Spider-Man now though than we would have had if, say, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man had lasted.
This newest adaptation will come into his own as a hero alongside the Avengers, instead of as a lone hero dealing with his demons. Balancing out his individual character arc, alongside that of “the team” will be important for the success of the series, imo.
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I only saw him for the first time a few nights ago when I finally watched Civil War. I think you’re right that they need to balance out his personal arc with that of the team. I have faith that they’ll do it well though, at least until i’m proven wrong.
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I was among the group that wasn’t impressed by the teaser. This trailer is much better. Yeah, the CG could be better but I am willing to overlook that if the movie itself is good. There’s potential here as Tom Hardy is a good actor.
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Aye, he is that, which also gives me some hope with this one. I do wonder if they’ll touch the CG up a bit before release too. This was much better than the teaser though, which it really needed to be after they dropped the ball there.
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All I thought when I watched the trailer was that it’s not part of the MCU and will have no hints about what happens after Infinity Wars. Had I watched the trailer before Infinity Wars, I’m sure I would’ve had a different reaction.
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Aye, it took me a moment to remember that it wasn’t part of the same continuity. I still need to see Infinity War.
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