Venom film review: Stupid, but still good enough to bite your head off

Enlarge / The worst part is, that's his happy face. (credit: Sony Pictures)

The Marvel Comics movie-rights juggle has lingered for years, thanks to Sony and Fox having a stake in a few major properties. This probably should have been a nightmare for quality control among all the films and superheroes in question-especially as Marvel Studios tries to unify its heroes beneath a Thanos-shaped umbrella-but something interesting has arisen over the past couple of years.

Namely, the outsider studios have figured out their own winning formula: focusing on Marvel's anti-heroes (the ones that Disney probably can't make theme-park rides out of). 2016's Deadpool kicked the trend off; 2017's incredible mutant-western Logan followed; and now, well, wouldn't you know it! This week's Venom actually turned out decent, too.

Make no mistake; we're not talking about the likes of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, or Thor Ragnarok. Venom heaves and lurches with questionable logic, writing, special effects, and acting. But its worst attributes all feel tongue-in-cheek-and strike an appropriate tone for a monstrous suit that consumes its hosts and calls people "pussies" before biting their heads off.

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