10 Reasons You're Wrong About Venom

5. Shifting Away From Horror May Have Been A Good Call After All

Though Venom does at times flirt with the idea of an R-rating, particularly during those moments where the symbiote tears the heads off of its victims, it never quite lives up to the promise of the superhero horror Fleischer spoke of when the film was first announced.

The opening, which introduces us to how the Life Foundation acquired the symbiotes, is uniquely foreboding and genuinely feels quite suspenseful. From there on in, however, Venom becomes more an action-comedy than a sci-fi horror, as Hardy's Brock verbally spars with his new alien buddy in a way few would've perhaps anticipated. The interesting thing here is that it's not actually all that dark either - Brock never feels in peril (save for the first few minutes where he encounters the symbiote) - and the film spends most of its time showing the two characters getting to know each other, rather than engaging in any sort of body horror.

It sounds absurd, and it is easy to see how such an approach has fallen afoul of criticism, but it's also brilliantly entertaining in its own, manic way. No one knows if the horror approach would've worked better - it most certainly could have - but this is the film we got. It's not spectacular, sensational or amazing, but it is enjoyable.