Venom is a shoo-in for one of the most bizarre comic book movies ever made. It’s a feature-length Saturday morning cartoon, trapped inside a reluctant midnight movie that slumps through its banally conceived plot with the enthusiasm of a tired and drunken sailor. For the remaining people who are curious about the plot: Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is an amiable television reporter who bonds with an alien parasite. The gooey entity in question keeps its host alive by providing superhuman strength, agility, and endurance. Although, depending on the scene, the parasite referred to as Venom, serves as an empowering life coach or a satanic Jiminy Cricket in serious need of a throat lozenge.

Venom is the worst kind of schlock- dull, dreary and boring Though in reality, the film feels like it has been through the studio grinder. The proverbial third act confrontation and conflict is an afterthought that is suddenly remembered as opposed to set up. This is compounded by a tone that seems to be game for a Cronenbergian body horror picture but lacks the courage of its convictions. Instead, it settles for black comedy that frankly feels stale in a post-Deadpool world.

Hardy’s fascinating mixture of Harold Lloyd inspired slapstick and Peter Sellers’ buffoonery is reminiscent of the go for broke performances that graced Tim Burton’s Batman films. But it always comes across as calculated as opposed to natural. His performance wakes up the film, but it never makes you forget about its mediocre nature.