There’s no denying that Sony’s “Venom” is a massive hit for the studio. Against all odds, especially considering many believed that a Spider-Man spin-off film that couldn’t feature Spider-Man was doomed to fail, the Sony film had a massive debut in October and would go on to be a behemoth at the worldwide box office, particularly in China, with a total of $854 million to date. That was without the help of critics, who, by and large, panned the film, evident by its 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. But according to the character’s creator, critics just didn’t know how to watch the film properly.
Speaking to Yahoo, Todd McFarlane, the famous comic book creator responsible for Venom, Spawn, and numerous other characters, says that critics of “Venom” just were looking for something to appeal to a mature audience. Instead, they needed to embrace their inner teenage fanboy.
“I think at times … the critics get it wrong in that they forget their age. They come in, and they’re 42 years old, and they come in with their attitude and they’re going, ‘Stop it.’ What if you were 16 and you were watching this movie? You would love it,” said McFarlane.
So, what does the creator feel is the most impressive part of his film? What is it that he noticed (as did millions of fans worldwide) that critics somehow missed? As he explains, it has little to do with the plot, the acting, or the direction.
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“[‘Venom’] delivered everything it was supposed to. It was gnarly, it was nasty, it has a big cool Venom, which was what I was looking for. [That] was my bias — I just wanted to see the visualness of Venom that I had created 30 years prior,” said the artist.
However, that admitted bias doesn’t extend to all versions of Venom. You see, Topher Grace played Eddie Brock long before Tom Hardy, way back in “Spider-Man 3.” Unforunately, as McFarlane explains, Grace’s portrayal of the character, particularly how he looked, just wasn’t right for the role.
“When the Topher Grace character turned into Venom, he didn’t really add a lot of weight,” said McFarlane. “I intentionally made him bigger because I always wanted it to feel like Peter Parker/Spider-Man was going up against an elephant and there was no way he was ever going to push him over. So he was going to have to come up with another way to trip up the elephant, which was gonna be to use his brain instead of his brawn.”
So, if you haven’t seen “Venom” or didn’t like it on your first viewing, give the film another shot. Bust out a six-pack of Mountain Dew, some Cheetos, and a long-held resentment of your parents, and fully experience the film as McFarlane intended – as a 16-year-old.
