16 Critically Dismissed Recent Movies (That Weren't As Bad As You Think)

Rotten Tomatoes: 29% (Average Score: 4.42/10)

Critical Consensus: Venom's first standalone movie turns out to be like the comics character in all the wrong ways - chaotic, noisy, and in desperate need of a stronger attachment to Spider-Man.

It's true that many people didn't exactly have high expectations for Venom. The marketing looked weak, the lack of Spider-Man was distracting and at this point, superhero films which disconnected from any of the various cinematic universes feel a bit pointless. Still, it's also arguable that critics were a little too eager to trash Venom once it arrived.

Venom isn't particularly great, but is it the turd in the wind that critics said it was? Hardly. Tom Hardy's performance is pretty awesome, Riz Ahmed's villain is pleasantly surprising, it still had some squirm-inducing horror scenes despite the PG-13 rating and there's an entertaining, darkly comical and demented vibe to the whole thing.

It's an unusually weird and unhinged modern superhero film and that certainly makes it an interesting film to watch. Flaws and all, it's an OK viewing in the moment and overall it's arguably somewhere around a 5/10 rather than anything lower.