While there is currently a social media conspiracy involving Lady Gaga fans and fake reviews (yup, sounds about right for 2018), the first actual reactions to Sony Pictures’ Venom have hit the web and, well … the movie sounds absolutely bonkers.
Venom screened in Westwood, California Monday night and a flood of screening reactions from critics hit Twitter soon after. The consensus: Venom isn’t a good movie but it’s strange as hell. Here are some of the best takeaways:
I’m *fascinated* with VENOM. The cast seems to all know they’re in a darker superhero movie, except Tom Hardy who is basically remaking Jim Carrey’s Liar Liar. I kinda loved watching this movie, in a Rocky Horror type of way. At one point Tom Hardy and Venom make out.
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) October 2, 2018
The whole movie is Venom telling Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock over and over “I’m hungry, Eddie. I want to eat a brian, Eddie. You’re a loser, Eddie. You’re a pussy, Eddie.”
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) October 2, 2018
Tom Hardy's performance in #Venom is either Johnny Depp in the first PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN or Chris Klein in STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI. Either way, it's not boring.
— Scott Mendelson (@ScottMendelson) 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.
— Meg Downey (@rustypolished) October 2, 2018
It also sounds like Venom would have benefited from that R-rating, just as we all suspected:
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
For more Venom reactions, just search #Venom on Twitter. Do these early mini-reviews change your mind about Venom at all? Let us know whether you’re still planning to see it in the comments below.
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Follow me on Twitter at Nick_Steinberg.