Eddie Brock is the type of anti-hero we don’t really need

Venom has enjoyable moments, but it’s hard to root for Eddie Brock. Do we really need superhero movies centered around men like him anymore?

Warning! This story contains minor spoilers for the movie Venom. Read on, or come back after you’ve seen the film.

Venom is Sony’s latest venture into the Marvel universe and is releasing across the country this weekend.

Venom isn’t lacking joy completely. There a few good laughs, the transformation into Venom and the way Venom looks is enjoyable, and it’s not like you will hate watching every minute of this movie. But, the entire time I watched, I just kept asking myself why we need another hero, or anti-hero, like Eddie Brock.

Eddie comes across as unlikable. Tom Hardy’s acting choices as the character were honestly fairly strange. He comes off very over-the-top and twitchy, and it’s hard to watch at times. Brock’s not a complete jerk, and he’s not a bad person necessarily. But, the entire time the movie was setting up his backstory, I kept wondering why we as audiences would want to identify with or like him.

Given the political climate and given that we are finally getting some more diverse hero movies like Wonder Woman and Black Panther, it’s hard to be sympathetic to a character who has everything in his hands but messes it up because… well, I’m not really sure why. The motivations behind this character weren’t very strong or logical at any point. My feelings toward the character were sullied early on when his fiancé, Anne, played by Michelle Williams, has to remind him to feed the cat. He’s an adult man with a high-profile job, why does his fiancé have to remind him to do basic household tasks? Brock has an amazing job and everything at his fingertips, and yet he chooses to destroy this and break his fiance’s trust and ruin her job in the process.

While he does end up with consequences for his actions, at the end of the day, of course, he becomes someone special. It’s hard to root for another mediocre straight white man who becomes exceptional. It’s also hard to find anything meaningful in a story that centers around a straight white man turning into some over muscled, rage alien monster. It almost made me mad seeing someone who had everything going great for them make such bad decisions and still end up winning in the end. But, what’s new, I guess?

The most enjoyable moments were the dialogue between Venom and Eddie. Also, the short part of the film where Anne became Venom. Although, it’s pretty funny (though not surprising) that when Eddie becomes Venom, he is a huge and muscular while Anne becomes super sleek and smaller when bonded with the symbiote.

The clearest moment for me watching the movie was when the audience laughed most loudly and happily for the moment when Venom calls Brock a “p*ssy.” Clearly, this film is catered to a particular audience, and it’s one I’m definitely not a part of nor do I wish to be.

How did you feel about the character? Did you like him or were you left unimpressed?