VENOM! Preview

In this world of frequent superhero movies, it can get pretty repetitive seeing ordinary people get powers just to fight a villain and save the day. Venom is exactly like this!... but also kind of the opposite. It's seemingly a dark horror but also a 12A (PG-13) superhero film? Tom Hardy is playing a villainous monster that eats people but is still the good guy?? Oh and Venom is Spider-Man's greatest villain so where does he fit into all this? It's all very confusing but I'm here to clear it all up and tell you what you need to know before deciding whether to be exited or not! There will be no spoilers, I will only talk about the things seen in trailers. Enjoy!

"Eyes, lungs, Pancleeass" (that's not a typo, read on to the last paragraph) 

Ok so let's start with who Venom is or as I should say, what Venom is. Without going into too much detail, Venom is a 'sentient alien symbiote' which is usually in a liquidised form until it finds a host. Once it finds a host, it bonds with them creating the horrific monster you can see in the picture above. It must feed on humans to then sustain its own life form. Venom creates a dual personality with the human host. It can switch drivers. Basically, Venom can take control of the human body or the human can take control of the Venom body. The two share a constant mental power struggle. Sounds pretty awesome right? So the movie should be too!... maybe so, maybe not. There's a couple things that make this film uncertain for me...

The first reason is Spider-Man. It is seemingly confirmed Spidey will not appear in this movie (although they're being weirdly ambiguous about it). The problem with this is that Venom was made for Spider-Man, originally as an alien life form that turns spidey evil but then also as Spidey's greatest villain when it takes over different hosts, most notable of which is Eddie Brock. Ok, so maybe they will use Venom in the next Spidey movie. Hmmm well, I'll attempt to keep this short. The rights to use Spider-Man in movies are kind of co-owned by Sony and Disney. Disney makes the mainstream Marvel movies hence Spider-Man in the Marvel cinematic universe. These are however limited rights. Sony still owns the rights to other Spider-man characters like Venom. That's not to say they can't crossover though. Originally this standalone Venom movie was to be rated 15 (R) due to the violence, imagery and tone. This was recently lowered to being a 12A (PG-13). Rumour has it, Sony wants to keep the doors open for future Spidey involvement and will try to lessen the violence and lighten the tone of Venom to do this. This defeats some excitement for me. Venom is a human eating, foul-mouthed, vile and hella scary savage. A lightened tone and increased humour defeats the purpose for me.

Could it work as a less violent action movie? Well there's no doubt Venom looks awesome and the action scenes look cool. Tom Hardy is a great actor and seems to be a great fit for Eddie Brock. The trailer has some cool dialogue and looks to explore the alien symbiotes quite well. The villain, well antagonist, of the movie, is Dr Carlton Drake played by British actor Riz Ahmed. The trailer sets him up as a scientist with possibly good intention and hidden agendas that take him down a dangerous path which, directly collides with Tom Hardy's Eddie. I believe that both of these actors will do a great job in setting up a rivalry that's grounded, exciting and intense. The way the trailer has shown the parasite of Venom taking over Eddie looks insanely cool. The duality is at the heart of this dynamic. Venom can stick its head out of Eddie's human body and talk to him face to face or through reflections. They communicate both physically and mentally as you can see from the picture below.

"WE can do whatever WE want" 

Sony hasn't had much luck with Spider-Man previously with the Andrew Garfield Spidey movies being rated quite low and cancelled after just two. Now I like the darker, more mature and sinister comic book movies like Watchmen, Logan, Deadpool, and BvS so I was super excited for this movie and still am. Less so with the drop in age rating but still intrigued to see if the movie can get me to fear Venom and the symbiote as I should. With Venom not being the only symbiote in the movie, I fear the climax will be a huge CGI battle with very little practical effects. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, they can't exactly have someone actually eat someone! However, I feel sometimes this distances the movie too far from it's grounded roots and can damage the narrative. 

Having explored what Venom is, and the exiting and less exciting things, let's wrap this preview blog post up. As you can see, the stills from the movie do look amazing. The cast is strong and the story seems rightfully simple and more character focused on Eddie and how he deals with the Venom parasite. I think the lack of Spidey is a positive, allowing the movie to go slightly darker than family friendly. However, this is limited now that the age rating has lowered. I am genuinely hoping it's a good action thriller. There are two lines of dialogue in the trailers that I don't like but maybe i'm just nitpicking. Listen out for the way Venom pronounces 'pancreas' (i'm being serious) and also how he describes a 'turd in the wind' (again, I'm being serious he says that). Has Venom seen an actual turd in the wind?! I don't know, maybe it just sounds weird to me.  

So that's all for this week, check out the trailer by clicking here and see for yourself. I give Venom a Blog of Steel anticipation rating of 7 out of 10! well it's a 6 really but that Eminem Venom theme song is awesome and deserves to get an extra point. Does the dialogue work for you? Are you ok with it being a 12A? Does Venom scare you or just look weird and silly? Let me know if you are excited about this movie by commenting below or tweeting me @Akash_Sond. Hope you enjoyed this post and feel more informed! Watch out for my next post by subscribing by email on the top right of the page and share this with friends and family by using the social media buttons just below. Until next time, stay frosty! 

It's like he says 'Pancleeass' instead of 'pancreas' (1:28 in the trailer). It's a weird body part to mention as it is, at least say it right! Maybe it's just me that finds it strange. Oh no! I've said it so much that it's stuck! pancleeass will never be the same! 

Ocean's Eight: Non-Spoiler review

The all-female revival of the famous Ocean's franchise has arrived in cinemas and brought a fair amount of hype with it! I mean this cast, Wow. Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Helena Bonham Carter, and Rihanna. Wow again. Oscar Winners, Oscar nominees and fan favourites. This movie has to be amazing right!... Right? Welcome to my Ocean's Eight review.

Every Con has its Pros 

The previous Ocean's outing (not the 1960 movie) had the impressive cast of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and a few more notable names such as Julia Roberts and Don Cheadle who sparked a memorable trilogy. For me, I have to say I think Ocean's Eight has the more impressive lineup.  Staying true to the series, this movie is a heist movie which centres around Bullock as Debbie Ocean, the sister of Clooney's Danny Ocean. Debbie was sent to prison after being outconned by a rival. She spent all five years of her prison sentence planning the ultimate heist. Upon her release, she and her long-term crime partner Lou, played by Cate Blanchett, assemble a crew and the adventure begins.

Plan it. Risk it. Wear it. Hack it.

The movie does very well to establish Debbie Ocean as a smart, cunning and stylish criminal who can very easily commit crimes to her benefit and she does it with charm. The film also quickly conveys the friendship between Debbie and Lou. It is this friendship dynamic that is central throughout this film and serves as one of it's most successful elements. The movie then proceeds to slowly assemble the crew whilst showing each characters strengths, quirks and personalities. The group dynamic is funny, diverse, functional and is just very cool to see on screen. A big issue that I found throughout is that the group dynamic just doesn't rise to a level that you probably expect it to given the power of the cast. This isn't to say it doesn't work, because it very much does and is entertaining but almost feels like it's achievable without star-studded actors. 

The plot of the movie is nothing too complex and is exactly what one would expect from a heist movie. The fun is in the planning, the execution and improvising when it doesn't go quite to plan. This brings me on to another flaw I felt this movie had, there wasn't enough surprise or twist. The small twists that do occur aren't particularly impressive or unexpected. In fact, the biggest twist of the film has already been revealed in the promotional material! (I won't explain what it is because there are no spoilers here. I know this has sounded overwhelmingly negative but I promise you it's not.) The plot is good and pulled off well its nothing special but it's still fun! I would also like to say James Corden's appearance during the final act of the movie was a nice addition, complementing the main cast and taking nothing away from them.

Find it. Fake it. Fence it. Take it.

The highlights of the movie for me has to be Cate Blanchett's performance as Lou. although the whole cast does a good job, Blanchett's performance is a standout due to her natural portrayal and her ability to deliver believable lines with heavy amounts of charm and style. She interacts well with the rest of the characters and supports Bullock's performance as the lead very well. Interestingly, the movies' blandness is not a result of the acting. Rather it's the way the film was written. I would have loved to see a little more close dialogued interactions and relevant humour between the characters throughout the movie. This was definitely produced just not to a good enough extent. It's difficult to do in one 2 hour movie where their characters have pretty much just met. This does perfectly leave the door open for future sequels to build on the bonding of the characters and deliver an even more entertaining second and third outing. I would definitely watch a sequel to this movie. Interestingly enough, Ocean's Twelve was received much better than Ocean's Eleven and a big reason for that is the time spent assembling the team in the first film can be spent on team interactions in the second. 

Conclusion

So onto what you really came here for, should you go to watch Ocean's 8? Is it worth it? Does it live up to the originals? Well, it is without a doubt a fun movie and an easy watch with the whole family. The actors are good and the group dynamic is nice. They pull off a heist movie with elegance and style. However, it is not as good as you would expect from a cast of Oscar winners and nominees. The film serves it's purpose and leaves the door open for sequels but just isn't as heavy hitting as it should be. The cast is the strongest point of the movie and the weakest is the writing. It's a shame because there is no doubt this cast could handle a more challenging script with smarter humour, more suspense and tension, twists and more individuality to separate it from past Ocean movies and heist movies in general. All things considered, Ocean's 8 gets a blog of steel rating of 6/10. Wait until it hits DVD or Netflix to watch it. 

That is all for another Blog Of Steel post! I hope you enjoyed reading it and maybe see for yourself if you agree or disagree with my review! if there's anything you want to discuss or comment on, simply pop it in the comments box below or tweet me @Akash_Sond! Share this posts with your friends and family by clicking on the social media buttons just below. Thanks for reading, hopefully, I'll be posting again soon!