Venom Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

2. The Effects (Mostly)

Despite the fact that the trailers were a little iffy with some of the effects work (and that recent commercial borrowing Hardy as a football mascot was downright horrific), the effects work in Venom is pretty brilliant.

The character himself looks great (even with the challenges of being a man made of shiny goop), the transitional sequences are great and the body shock stuff borrowed from or paying homage to David Cronenberg that IS in there is convincing and awful at the same time.

Clearly, there's been a lot of money spent on making this all work and even though the action sequences leave a little to be desired (aside for the choreography where Hardy genuinely looks like a rag-doll being puppetted by someone else), the effects and Venom's presence within them is all great.