8 Terrible Performances That Almost Ruined Recent Movie Scenes
4. Riz Ahmed - Venom
In a way that's rather quite apt, Venom is a movie of two halves.
On the one hand you have the goofy-as-all-hell horror comedy that star Tom Hardy is in, where his character Eddie Brock and brain-eating symbiote anti-hero Venom get themselves into captial-s shenanigans. On the other hand you have a drab, lifeless, by-the-numbers superhero tale about evil corporations and science experiments gone wrong.
Unfortunately, Riz Ahmed is absolutely in the latter movie and gives the kind of wooden, unconvincing performance that is totally at odds with the energy Hardy brings scenes.
Now, Ahmed is one of the finest actors working today, so the blame can't be placed entirely on him, but every scene where he's the focal point threatens to derail the whole thing.
Particularly bad is Dr. Dora's death scene, where Ahmed is lacking all the menace and intimidating presence the scene requires. He's fine enough as the smarmy businessman, but doesn't quite give this villain enough bite.