8 Reasons Upgrade Is The Year's Best Venom Movie

8. Logan Marshall-Green's More Physical, Nuanced Performance

It's fair to say that Tom Hardy's madcap performance as Eddie Brock/Venom has enjoyed most of the movie's dubious praise, but if we're actually trying to take the central character even remotely seriously, his off-kilter work pales hugely in comparison to Logan Marshall-Green's performance as Upgrade's hero Grey Trace.

The most impressive thing about his turn is how he really makes the audience feel the, yes, symbiotic relationship between himself and the A.I. STEM chip implanted in his spine.

Marshall-Green gives a surprisingly nuanced, physical performance, jerking around and perfectly conveying the push-and-pull between Grey the man and the powerful technological component.

This is especially evident during the film's action sequences, where Grey's movements have an appropriately unsettling, robotic quality to them, adding an extra layer of depth and character work to scenes that could otherwise be disposable, brainless set-pieces.

That's not to forget that the actor also gives a highly compelling dramatic performance, especially during the early stages of Grey's paralysis where his lust for life is gone. Conversely, Venom offers virtually nothing for Hardy to chew on dramatically, and while he sells the barmy symbiosis well enough, it still doesn't feel a patch on Marshall-Green's splendid work.

It's especially amusing as Marshall-Green is so often referred to as "budget Tom Hardy", but off the back of his sublime performance here, and the fact he effortlessly out-acts Hardy, it's probably time for that label to be retired.