Venom vs Upgrade

Before diving into either movie, I should explain the choice to compare the two. I saw both for the first time recently, and both feature men (Tom Hardy and Logan Marshall-Green—both honestly even look alike, like you can freeze certain frames of Upgrade and believe you’re watching Hardy) in action movies who are for the most part controlled either by an alien symbiote or high tech computer chip. But despite this parallel concept for the action, the movies take very different routes in their approaches. So which of these movies do I recommend, if either? Well, I guess I wouldn’t be doing my job if I said so right here…………….. Definitely Upgrade. Like clearly, very much so Upgrade. It’s not even close. But both have their strengths and faults, so read on to hear my guilt and cholesterol free opinions.

Which movie would you like to hear about first? Alphabetical order sounds good to me. Venom (I’m not an English major, folks) gets off to a terrible start. Those first 20 minutes? Atrocious. As great as Tom Hardy is, and he is easily the best thing about this movie, his character has a rocky start that never gets that great of development. And after Michelle Williams—who is completely wasted in this film (talent-wise that is, her character probably would’ve been improved if she was wasted the whole time)—breaks up with Eddie Brock for destroying her career, I was actively rooting for them to not get back together. Oh, and let’s not forget about the slow journey of metallic symbiote Riot; it represents the absolute crux of superhero films not starring Batman. While Riot does a bad impression of the demon from It Follows, the bigger sin here is that it’s a regurgitation of Venom, only bigger, badder, and meaner. I understand the argument of saving Carnage for the sequel to focus on the origins of Venom, but that does not excuse a boring antagonist like Riot. Oh, and let’s double not forget about Carlton Drake portrayed by Riz Ahmed. Not only is this guy not intimidating in any fashion, his lines are cliched and Ahmed’s delivery is overperformed. It’s just not good.

But then a little spider named Eddie Brock meets a beautiful amoeba named Venom, and all is good in the world. The middle act is clearly where this movie shines, and it’s a catastrophic shame that there was clearly tons of content here that was cut from the movie. The back and forth between the two is incredible and has genuine humor, and I could watch the restaurant scene with the lobsters all day. It’s the dynamic that the nerds were looking forward to, and it delivers. Unfortunately, it is cheapened by a forced third act. On their way to stop the rocket from launching at the end, Venom chirps to Eddie that he has grown on the journalist and wants to continue their journey together, but after roughly 50 minutes of Eddie and Venom, their relationship still doesn’t feel nearly validated enough to warrant this sequel-building line.

Other goods and bads of the film: Good: side characters Dr. Dan and Dr. Dora. Reid Scott and Jenny Slate, respectively, both play quality characters while being dear in my heart for their roles in tv shows like Veep for Scott and the unforgettable Mona-Lisa in Parks and Recreation for Slate. Bad: Venom actually looks good, but the visual effects are muddled otherwise. There’s a smart color palette, use of the San Francisco location, and overall design for the film, but the film is literally overshadowed otherwise. Good: Venom. Bad: The PG-13 rating. You better believe I wanted to see Venom chomp people’s heads off. One more bad: It seems to be my cardinal sin for action films recently, but Venom is still guilty of lazy editing and missed opportunities—like the scene against the soldiers in the building honestly could’ve been much cooler than it was.

What does Upgrade do differently? Although it is abundantly clear that as soon as you’re introduced to Grey’s wife, you’re like yeah she dead, the movie directed by Saw and Insidious collaborator Leigh Whannell provides relevant information about the setting, characters, and vibe without any unnecessary garbage. This whole review is about the comparison to Venom, but Upgrade is really like a combination of Venom, both Blade Runners, and Ex Machina, and it’s easy to explain each one. Venom is the obvious comparison with the symbiotic relationship; the premise of Upgrade is a man named Grey in the near future becoming paralyzed after thugs kill his wife and shoot him, and with the help of Amazon Echo computer chip upgrade called Stem, he looks to solve his wife’s murder. Grey is a hands-on, old-school Tom Hardy look-alike that keeps mostly to himself, but one thing leads to another, and he ends up requiring physical assistance from Stem to fight his way out of sticky situations. And boy are the fighting scenes awesome. The combination of Logan Marshall-Green’s physical acting as his face says one thing while Stem’s systematic fighting says another with the neo-noir future settings and brutality that Venom was unable to achieve adds up to the undeniable cool factor that some films simply have over others. There’s even a car chase scene that’s just crisp and clean like say Jack Reacher.

And then you see the influences of sci-films. I could really even include THX 1138 in here (George Lucas before Star Wars), but the film Blade Runner 2049 had the futuristic technology that made loads of sense in the world, and there are the sharp contrasting colors floating in the very blue film; and the original Blade Runner holds a similar approach of building up the mystery of the plot and following the bread crumbs. And with the lighting, smooth directing, and presence of AI, Ex Machina fits snugly into the similarities to Upgrade as well. And if you’ve seen these great films, you can probably put together how this film plays out. It’s not never-before-seen stuff in terms of plot, but it’s very well executed.

This isn’t a perfect movie though. Now I’m a guy that’s sat through Saving Private Ryan and Quentin Tarantino films, but that doesn’t mean brutal and gory equals better. Yes, there’s a tenacity achieved that Venom could never reach at PG-13, but it really wasn’t necessary for me to see the insides of Gray’s spine as Stem is inserted into him. And there are a couple other examples where it’s all a bit much. But that’s probably my biggest critique. I don’t think it quite had the wow factor that Ex Machina and Blade Runner 2049 had on me, but it’s simply good enough to still be one of the hidden gem action movies that the likes of John Wick used to be when it first came out.

Released about four months apart, Venom and Upgrade were destined to be compared to each other. And I think Upgrade is the film Venom wishes it could be. I believe studio interference along with the many script changes hold roles in the result, but Venom isn’t a complete film the way it has potential to be. The movie is actually quite entertaining once Venom crosses path with Eddie (entertaining until the final act where it’s once again a CGI slobber-fest where punching each other really doesn’t do much), but that’s no excuse when you find movies like Upgrade that are entertaining and then some.