Don't Believe the Hype

Absolutely Fantastic

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This is a 17-minute black-and-white short film from 2 years ago and it is supposed to look like a fake French documentary. The lead actor and only actor known to me is Ryan Kwanten. I think he does a good job here with Eddie Brock (from the Spider-Man universe and I was a bit surprised about that as I watched some "True Blood" in the past and I think it's a really bad television show, highly overrated. The writer and director here is Joe Lynch and I cannot say I am familiar with him either. The Venom transformation scene was, however, the only pretty cool thing about this film. The rest, especially everything before it and the scene that follows the credits are fairly forgettable and all in all it looked to me that Lynch cannot even come up with a script here that keeps one entertained for almost 20 minutes. Sad state of affairs and this probably would have been even worse without Kwanten elevating the material. Still, not recommended.

In a style that is a clear homage to Man Bites Dog, or "C'est arrivé près de chez vous", a black and white film crew follow around an increasingly shady reporter - to document his perspective on what's happened to him. While the IMDb title entry currently reveals who this is about, the YouTube video(yes, this is legally available for free viewing... so what are you waiting for?) does not - it is something that gradually dawns on the audience(provided they read comics), and that is as it should be.Like Dirty Laundry, by the same crew, this does justice to a major graphic novel character that was not already done quite the way it should(this one more than that one - albeit I realize that opinions are divided on that matter), and it is for those already familiar with the source material. This is for the fans, and I agree wholeheartedly with that decision - the big screen has already given us watered-down versions for mainstream consumption.The acting is solid. In spite of a 17 minute length(and yes, watch all of it, don't stop when the end credits come up... you can thank me later), we get a genuine sense of who the people seen are, what their interpersonal relationships are, and the like. The pace is solid, nothing is wasted. Every scene, line and shot serves a purpose. Humor is mostly black comedy, and there is a sense of danger, of proximity to death and destruction(we open to our lead going beyond police tape to look at a corpse on a crime scene while it's being processed), making the French film mentioned above a logical choice to emulate.Production values are fantastic. The sparsely used excellent FX, and masterful use of the "found footage" hook shame the big-budget take on the icon. Design choices likewise - once again, this is for and by those who already love the original.There is a bit bloody, disturbing and violent content in this. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys "funny books". 9/10