Columbia Pictures and Marvel’s new movie “Venom” directed by Ruben Fleischer premiered on Oct. 5, 2018. The film stars Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, and Melora Waters.

“Venom” follows investigative journalist Eddie Brock, who is fired after trying to take down Carlton Drake, the founder of the Life Foundation. While investigating one of Drake’s experiments, Brock is bonded with an alien symbiote called Venom.

Brock and Venom learn to work together to defeat Drake and the Life Foundation. The Life Foundation is trying to prematurely achieve symbiosis, a successful relationship between alien symbiote and its host, on humans even though the animal trials were not 100 percent effective.

Movie critics have been calling the movie “an unintentionally hilarious disaster” and “so bad it’s good.” However, the box office statistics and movie-goers say otherwise. “Venom” has grossed over $466 million worldwide.

On a scale of five stars, I’d give Venom a four.

The one star loss is due to the fact that the plot of the movie is a little fuzzy and hard to follow in the beginning. There are also some details missing from the movie that I think would have been beneficial to the viewer’s understanding of the film.

One thing that was missing is an explanation of why Drake and Brock hate each other. I also think that it would have been helpful to include some background information on the rest of the symbiotes.

However, intentionally or unintentionally, “Venom” delivers a great deal of comedy. The whole relationship between Brock and Venom is funny in itself. Venom likes and pities Brock at the same time; Venom will say things like “on my planet, I am a loser like you,” that make the audience laugh.

Another funny part was the MRI scene, where it appears that Venom is trying to escape from Brock’s body to avoid the loud noise. I think the funniest scene in the movie, however, is when Brock is trying to explain to Venom that he cannot go around eating whoever he wants and that there are rules about eating people.

An additional positive point of the movie is the acting. Hardy, who plays Brock and Venom, is able to convey two different personalities, each with his  own voice. This is especially evident when Brock and Venom have a conversation with each other, as in the scenes I mention above.

If you haven’t seen “Venom” yet, go check it out at the AMC in Allentown. And be sure to stay through the credits to catch the two post-credits scenes.