From Sony and director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) comes Venom, based on the Marvel Comics anti-hero. Starring Tom Hardy in the title role alongside Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate and Scott Haze, the film is set for theatrical release October 5, 2018.
Look – I know Riot sure ain’t no Carnage and it seems super silly to have a stand-alone Venom movie without Spider-Man OR the red symbiotic psycho, but Riot looks nasty as Hell in this new trailer for Sony’s upcoming Venom flick. Riz Ahmed will be the human under the villainous symbiote known as Riot from the comics. I don’t think he’ll be the only symbiotic baddie though as they confirmed this film will feature the Life Foundation and comic readers know that this storyline spawned several other symbiotic characters for Venom to battle.
As for the trailer, I do miss the big white spider symbol that Venom usually has on his chest/back, but apparently they weren’t allowed to use that image for the film… They can use the excuse that not using a Spider symbol is to distance the Venom film from the other Spider-Man properties, but that’s kinda stupid isn’t it? The ultimate version of Venom from the comics didn’t have the white spider (or as Tom Hardy referred to it — as a giant dick from this year’s San Diego Comic Con), so if you go by that logic then you can’t really complain all that much can you? But it’s comics and it’s a comic book film, so complain we tend to do don’t we?
There’s a ton of action here and lot’s of great shots including Venom licking a thug’s face which is always great and even a moment where Riot is ripping the Venom symbiote from Eddie Brock’s face and that totally reminds me of that classic cover from the Venom solo series where Carnage is doing the same thing to our anti-hero. The film looks like it was made with the best of intentions and with the fans’ interest in mind. It feels a little cheesy here and there and could be a CGI riddled mess, but it’s also Venom and this is one of my favourite fictional characters of all time. I like what I saw here and although I’m trying to curb my expectations this Fall, it’s hard not to get excited when I see a trailer like this. Still no Woody Harrelson, so I’m betting he definitely will be a tease going into a potential sequel as the villainous Carnage, and that’s totally cool with me. Who wouldn’t want to see Hardy and Harrelson duke it out?