Food 4 Thought: Do we need a "Venom" movie??

- Posted by Rusty


Source: Hollywood Reporter Heat Vision Blog
(Found via Comingsoon.net)

Remember Topher Grace’s Venom in Spider Man 3? Better yet, just remember Spider-Man 3? What a huge misstep that film was, especially following the actually pretty great Spider-Man 2. The emo-Peter Parker (that’d be his “dark” alter-ego), the extra-whiny Mary Jane (poor, poor Kirsten Dunst…who, at one point, got mad that Peter went off to save people instead of staying and discussing her bad review), the overall pretty useless Sandman, and the list goes on and on.

But I thought the biggest misstep of all was its treatment of Venom...

A fan favorite for years, Venom dominated the 90’s Spider-Man cartoon series (my big intro to the Marvel universe)—he was the villain on that show. And you could see why: as Eddie Brock, a jealous co-worker transformed by an alien symbiote suit, he was everything that Peter was not—just as powerful (if not more so), but ruthless and unmerciful. A beast driven purely on vengeance, and one who utterly destroys the “with great power, comes great responsibility” mantra of Peter’s Uncle Ben.

So, how could the film mess him up so badly? How did it manage to turn one of the most compulsively watchable (and pretty damn interesting) baddies in Spider-Man’s library into a second banana villain? I read somewhere that Sam Raimi was forced to include him by Sony…and it shows—he’s a blip in that movie’s messy story. The storyline (with its themes of revenge and the darkness in all of us) could have worked if he was the primary bad guy, but, since Sandman took that slot, Venom ended up being the guy who just happened to wait in one convenient street corner, snarl a few times, and say: “Hey, we both want Spider-Man dead. Let’s kill him together!” A real wasted opportunity; although, to his credit, Topher Grace did a better job than expected. I like Grace a lot (see his work in Traffic, In Good Company, and That 70’s Show to see the range of what this guy could do), and while he wasn’t the beefy Eddie Brock from the comics, I liked his version as the scrawny weasel.

Think Sony could reignite that potential with the just-announced, now-moving-forward Venom spin-off? I’m guessing not…but I am interested in what they’ll come up with. I heard rumors about this for a couple of years now; now, news broke that Seabiscuit, Dave, and Pleasantville writer-director Gary Ross is bringing our favorite angry alien symbiote to life.

I think it’s a case of good and bad news. Yes, this could be the chance to do the character justice, and Ross is a dependably good writer who’s more than up to the task (he’s polishing the Spider-Man 4 script too). His involvement also gives the project some credibility, making it look less like a cash-in on a popular brand (and, come on, have you seen the amount of Venom logo T-shirts?? Ah, one of these days I'll finally buy it and wear my geek flag proudly...). It’s also a chance to reboot—start from scratch, and give us the Venom that’s not just some petty little punk obsessed with Peter Parker’s lab partner (who actually convinced himself that they were a “couple” after one cup of coffee).


Now here’s the bad: it’s his own movie, which probably means, minus all traces of Spider-Man (save for maybe a cameo by Tobey Maguire), Venom would become the hero of his own story. He is a tragic hero, and, for anyone who remembers, the 90’s cartoon even had an arc when he used his powers for good to save the woman he loves. I’m guessing we’ll see something similar here: he’ll be evil at first, but (most likely after hurting someone he cares about) he’ll learn to fight the evil alien brain (the costume is actually a living organism), and turn those powers against an even bigger bad guy. Voila, a new franchise is born—another dark, broody hero to fit nicely into the post-Dark Knight superhero mold. And once all the groundwork is laid, who says he can’t team up (or face off against) Spider-Man sometime in the future? Will this Venom be played by Topher Grace? Probably not—the beauty of the alien symbiote is that it can attach to anyone, and maybe Sony won’t even go with Eddie Brock for this go-around.

I’m not crazy about this idea; I’m not even sure if we need a Venom spin-off altogether, since there are better comic-book characters out here who still don’t have their own movie. And the 15 minutes of him in Spider-Man 3 didn’t exactly scream like there was a fascinating, untold story for a full-length movie; did anybody really come out of the theater and say: “Man, I'd love to spend more time with Topher…”?. Mostly, I would have rather seen Venom as the main villain in a Spider-Man movie. (Ever wish studios could just ignore a movie in a franchise and re-do it with the same team? I would totally forgive 20th Century Fox if they pretended X-Men 3 didn’t happen, and just made that movie over again). I keep thinking that Sony just messed up their chance, and this will turn into another expensive, pointless ride.

As always, we’ll just have to see. I respect Gary Ross a lot (Dave is a favorite of my family), and I certainly love the Venom character—there is a ton more they could do with him. Let’s see if they could put together something interesting here. Even better, let’s hope they redeem the Spider-Man franchise in whole—I’m sure a lot is riding on Spider-Man 4 to get Peter Parker’s world back on track, and I hope Sam Raimi recharged those creative juices with Drag Me to Hell (which I’m looking forward to finally catching on DVD).

I know I’ll see both that and Venom anyway—let’s just hope they’re both good.

What do you guys think of the Venom movie news? And who would you like to see Spider-Man take on in Spider-Man 4?

My pick would be Carnage—if you thought Venom was bad, wait until you see this guy. At least somewhere deep down, beneath all that alien slime, Brock has a heart; Cassidy, the serial killer who inherits another symbiote, is all-out, unhinged madness. With no humanity whatsoever, this guy just wants blood—he thrives on killing, making him more powerful and uncontrollable than Venom could ever be. He'd be an amazing match for Spidey (and the effects to bring him to life should be fantastic)—check him out in the picture below (he's the red, splotchy one on the left)—he definitely has potential as a big-screen villain.


Images courtesy of Marvel Comics, Marvel Entertainment, and Sony Pictures.