Sony's Spider-Man Universe reviews

With MORBIUS finally out just 2 years and 3 months after the first trailer premiered, I decided to give my two cents on all three movies in Sony's Spider-Man Universe. I'm not a big fan of this new name because for one thing, there's no Spider-Man yet and I hate the acronym SSU. Shouldn't it be SSMU? I still don't like that. I obviously would've preferred the first two names: Sony's Marvel Universe (SMU) and Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters (SUMC). Anyway, I'm ranking the three movies not just by release date, but by opinion because apparently after the first movie came out, things seemed to go downhill from there. So, let's just get into it.

• 1. VENOM (2018) - 9 out of 10

Basically what could be referred to as Sony's IRON MAN, but with negative reviews. Ever since Amy Pascal said that these movies would be "adjunct" to the MCU Spider-Man, I got very nervous and hoped she was wrong as she and Kevin Feige have been going back-and-forth over whether these were MCU movies or not. Finally, when the movie came out, it was confirmed to be it's own thing...especially with the fact that the existence of aliens are new to this world and the second end credits scene being a sneak peek of the soon-to-be animated classic SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE. Moving on, I loved Tom Hardy's dual performance as Eddie Brock and Venom with the latter's dark voice and sense of humor putting a smile on my face. It does start off slow and it could've been longer, but once Eddie discovers his powers beginning with the apartment raid-turned-car chase, it's a ride. It would've been better with it was R-rated, but I thought it was a cool mix of action, body horror, and dark humor. The final fight between Venom and Riot at the Life Foundation culminating with the rocket blowing up is a real cherry on top. However, did we REALLY need 20 minutes of end credits? That might just be the LONGEST end credits in a movie ever!

My biggest gripe as the years went on since I first saw it is Dora Skirth. I really like the character, but it's her demise and aftermath that trouble me. Aside from what CinemaSins once referred to her death as "a waste of good Jenny Slate", she told Eddie that she was concerned for her family. Like did she have a husband and children? Considering that she wasn't a character in the comics, I would've loved to see The Life Foundation and get shut down and have the families of Dora and the homeless people Isaac and Maria get compensated and the evil actions of said foundation appear on the news. #JusticeForDoraSkirth. If I'm lucky, maybe that'll be brought up in VENOM 3, but I wouldn't bet on it. Still, I rank the film as my second favorite movie of 2018 behind INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE. Let's hope the long-awaited fight between Venom and Carnage improves things...

• 2. VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (2021) - 8 out of 10

Oh wait, it didn't. I love this movie, but it's also underwhelming compared to the original. I know that's a weird thing to say considering that many critics and moviegoers called this sequel an improvement on the first movie. But to me, it unfortunately wasn't. Woody Harrelson is a great Cletus Kasady a.k.a. Carnage, but there wasn't really enough Carnage. Sure, the prison break scene and the explosion-filled Ravencroft breakout scene were intense, but Venom and Carnage only had ONE fight. Long before the trailers premiered, I expected the two symbiotes to have at least TWO fights. Hell, I imagined the first fight happening in the middle of the city and be like the fight between Satan and ManBearPig from that two-part SOUTH PARK episode.

Plus, this movie would've REALLY benefited from an R-rating with blood considering that Carnage is worse than Venom and if this is the ONLY appearance of both Cletus Kasady and Carnage, then this movie should've been called VENOM II: MAXIMUM CARNAGE. I also had trouble with Venom's voice being different in this movie compared to the original. It's not that I don't like it, but you can tell that Venom has a different voice and I don't know why. Also, they already had a breakup scene in the first movie, why do we need another one? All Eddie was trying to do was to protect the both of them from being caught by authorities and he's the bad guy? After that breakup, Venom hops from random person-to-person, killing them without remorse which seemed out of character.

And yes, the TV spots were misleading with the club scene because we all thought that both Eddie and Venom were there raving like a 2000s superhero movie, which would've been awesome, but left me mostly disappointed because it wasn't Eddie and Venom.

Speaking of the marketing, I was heavily disappointed in the whole "That is a Red One" conversation in the actual film because it's VERY different from the awesome version of it from the second trailer. I mean, I considered starting my own TikTok and re-enact such an amazing trailer moment for all the world to see before seeing it ruined in the final film. Also, is it me or does Anne seemed to be more harsh? She tells Eddie that he doesn't love anybody and commitment is not his thing. I thought she broke up with him because he got her fired? Not because of commitment issues. She even once told him that amends were "not his thing" even though he has apologized to her and Venom in the past. And now for the BIG issue of the film: the mid-credits scene!

There was a fan screening of the film in London, England on Tuesday, September 14th. Even though Tom Hardy asked fans not to spoil anything, they were leaking the post credits scene anyway and I was just hoping it would be fake like a lot of other movie and TV leaks in the past, but when the movie premiered on Thursday, September 30th… the leak turned out to be true. Eddie Brock and Venom got mysteriously transported to the MCU via multiverse and would eventually appear in SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME in the MCU. During those weeks before the movie came out, I was hoping it wouldn’t be true because of my dislike for the MCU and because most online leaks of upcoming projects turn out to be false. People on Reddit and Twitter were all like “I was there” and “it’s true” to the point where I even got attacked with offensive replies, a crying Andrew Garfield GIF, and they even posted pictures and recorded videos of this scene when they shouldn’t. It spoils the movie for people who haven’t seen it and makes them absolute scum. I would later see the movie in a theater, but not as I planned. However, I will warn whoever is reading this not to be like those people on Reddit, Twitter, or on any other form of social media who spoil anything for a movie weeks before it’s release because those people are scum of the earth. In spoiler discussions on Reddit, that’s highly understandable, but not anywhere else where people can bump into them like tweets and replies. I mean, isn't it ironic that the first VENOM movie had great end credit scenes with okay end credit songs while LET THERE BE CARNAGE has better end credit songs with a bad end credit scene? A little insult-to-injury on that would be not playing the entire uncensored version of "Last One Standing". That was heartbreaking. Overall, I love the movie, but I consider it somewhat a disappointment though it slowly has been growing better on me.

• 3. MORBIUS (2022) - 8 out of 10... might change to 7 later on or maybe even 6

Of course when talking about disappointments, MORBIUS is the bigger one. I mean, it's not terrible like what the critics say it is, though it does have flaws. Morbius the Living Vampire was actually one of my dream roles as a struggling actor and screenwriter. Ever since Sony announced their planned universe set in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN franchise, I've been saying to myself and others that Morbius should've been played by me or one of my gods Johnny Depp. Then the deal with the MCU happened and everything went to hell until VENOM happened and became a success that would lead to Sony re-evaluating their cinematic universe plans and announce a Morbius movie with Jared Leto. I was hyped for what I could see until January 2020 when the first trailer premiered. The music in the background was not to my liking and of course... the Spider-Man MURDERER graffiti and Michael Keaton appearing.

Almost two years later, the second trailer of the film finally premiered with more Easter eggs, but this time from THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN films including the Oscorp building and The Daily Bugle mentioning The Rhino and The Black Cat.

It gave me a bit of hope that there was really nothing to worry about. It also made me believe that Michael Keaton was just playing a variant of The Vulture. After NO WAY HOME came out and ruined my childhood, the third and final trailer premiered and got me excited a little more. Unfortunately, a week before the film's release, people who went to screenings of it didn't like what they saw and spoiled the two mid-credit scenes where The Vulture from the MCU gets transported to Sony's universe by the spell that brought the multiverse visitors home which made no sense and he miraculously made a new Vulture suit. He then somehow discovers Morbius, mentions Spider-Man, and suggests forming a team which Morbius calls "intriguing". Like nobody knows who Spider-Man is in that universe, right? Why would Morbius be intrigued if he wants to be a hero and not know who Spider-Man is? The film's director Daniel Espinosa was also talking about the mid-credit scenes the same week those negative early reactions came in, spoiling the movie. Apparently, The Vulture is a "resourceful guy", a Spider-Man exists, and we should find who's playing him "very soon". Now let's move on from the negativity for a minute because I was entertained when I saw the movie. It wasn't boring, it was dark and creepy, the CGI and action scenes were pretty good, the acting from Jared Leto and Matt Smith were great, and you root for Morbius whether it's finding a cure or trying to help the people he cares about even though he fails. Okay, I will admit that we didn't get much from Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, and especially Tyrese Gibson who last I checked is a badass action star. Like what happened to his bionic arm?

In fact, a lot of things from the marketing were not in the final film, not just Easter eggs and Vulture scenes. Still, I would argue the movie is better than the trailers, though it's not the Morbius movie I've imagined for years. I imagined it being called MORBIUS: THE LIVING VAMPIRE because that's what he is, I imagined it having an amazing gothic soundtrack like "Wake Me Up" by Evanescence, and I imagined the villain being an actual Morbius comic villain like Loxias Crown a.k.a. Hunger which is what we all assumed Matt Smith would be playing. Heck, even Matt was confused as to who he was playing. Instead, we got a final battle that was rather short, an ending that was just rushed right after Milo was easily killed, and the two Vulture mid-credit scenes. I'm already wondering if there's a Director's Cut of this movie somewhere, but we might never see it. Honestly, if Michael Keaton never appeared and if it was released before COVID-19, it maybe could've been better. I'll just leave it at that.

So, what could we hope for the future of this universe? Well, they're already filming KRAVEN THE HUNTER with Aaron Taylor-Johnson as well as an awesome supporting cast and they recently cast Dakota Johnson as MADAME WEB. Because of the dismal reviews and so-so box-office of MORBIUS, it's hard to say especially with Box Office Mojo referring to the situation as "no doubt leading to some nervous suits at the studio who had dreamed of creating a menagerie of secondary supervillains and ancillary anti-heroes to challenge Disney’s MCU—or at least become the Pepsi to its Coke". That's rough, man! I hate the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so of course I would suggest no more multiverse crap from that universe going into Sony's universe, but I would also suggest firing Avi Arad. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing and he's just inferring with the creativity of these filmmakers trying to make great movies. He's also done that with SPIDER-MAN 3 and THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, but even those movies were way better than MORBIUS. Like why is he producing that movie and KRAVEN THE HUNTER while Amy Pascal produces the VENOM movies? Shouldn't it be Pascal for everything? How is he still working for Sony? KRAVEN is currently scheduled for release on January 13, 2023 as of writing, but I would prefer a different date later in 2023, though that's going to be tough with such a packed schedule. ScreenRant is also saying that Sony making an AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 3 with Andrew Garfield is the "only way" to save Sony's universe. #MakeTASM3. But, what do you think of these movies and what do you think should happen with Sony's Spider-Man Universe? Give me your two cents. Catch ya later, webheads!