Before Sony worked out a deal with Marvel Studios to bring Peter Parker into the MCU, they had planned a Spider-Man Cinematic Universe. This included a Sinister Six film, Black Cat and Venom.

But the Marvel Deal does not include any of those ideas…and so Sony is trying to develop the properties sans Spider-Man. In the case of Venom though? It make some sense. Spider-Man 3 had condensed the Venom story and did it pretty poorly. This does not change the idea that a Spider-Manless Spider-Verse is a bad idea. Spider-Man and his villains are pretty tightly tied together.  Venom does keep a lot of the core ideas of the character. A gooey alien symbiote with violent tendencies attaches to Eddie Brock as a host.
Eddie is a reporter who ruins his life when he cannot hold back his disdain and accuses Carlton Drake of ruthlessly killing the desperate and poor to achieve his scientific success.

When he is smuggled into Drake’s compound he gets infected by a parasite that calls himself Venom. Eddie and Venom need each other, as a Symbiote cannot survive long in an oxygen rich environment without a host, and Eddie needs Venom to survive as he is hunted by Drake’s men.

I am…not entirely how I feel at this point about the film. Venom has a great cast, and I liked Hardy’s manic performance.  I really liked the idea of making Eddie some sort of VICE styled journalist.  It makes for an interesting approach, rather than a guy being driven by jealousy.

On the other hand, the film takes some time to get going, because there is a lot of setup. And while the film has some laughs, it is not as darkly funny as it could have been.

I guess, I would say that Venom is…not terrible. It is watchable with decent effects and a great cast. I will say…the post credit scene kind of makes me want to see a sequel.