Please note the review below may contain minor spoilers - I've done my best to keep them to a minimum.

Originally making his debut in the less than emphatic Spider-man 3, the symbiote known only as Venom finally gets a standalone outing, with Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer on directorial duties.

Houston we have a problem! A space shuttle in distress hurtles towards Earth, its cargo; a slew of alien creatures - affectionately known as symbiotes - under lock and key, well not for much longer anyway Crashing into pieces somewhere in Malaysia, its crew now dead, undeterred the benefactor of this expedition - Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) a more sociopathic take on Elon Musk - wishes to claim its prize, unfortunately finding one of the symbiotes has escaped into the wider world.

On the other side of said world - California in fact - Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is an edgy, investigative reporter with his own hit viral show and an adoring girlfriend Anne (Michelle Williams) on his arm. Unfortunately in someones infinite wisdom, the outlet Brock writes for has decided to send their best investigative reporter to do a puff piece on Carlton - a man who has more skeletons in his closet than Jeffrey Dahmer - surely nothing can go wrong then! Oh well, let carnage commence.

Original comic creator Todd McFarlane has a knack for crafting some distinctive looking characters, be they his wholly owned Spawn or Venom when he worked at Marvel in the 80s, I believe they are horror characters situated within a superhero shell of a world. And horror is exactly the genre where Venom shines as a movie. In fact, I think if director Ruben Fleischer and Sony decided to go into full gore territory it would have greatly benefited Venom - creating a more cohesive and unique film - to really sell the terror of this character to an audience, instead of implying or using cutaway edits when things do begin to get a little hairy on screen. But from a consumer point of view, I can understand why they didnt. After all Venom is a movie aimed at the Marvel crowd - one that skew's increasingly younger - so limiting your audience by an age rating might not be the smartest idea - even if it did work for Deadpool. But where Venom definitely does lend itself into that coveted Marvel Cinematic Universe is within the comedy realm; whether it's the numerous one liners or running jokes juxtaposed against Venoms outright horror, the film can be genuinely funny at times, and I could easily see the character fitting right into an Avengers-ilk movie down the line. Where Venom definitely diverges from your usual Marvel fare - well the Disney kind anyway - is the tried and tested formula theyve got down to a science. For me personally this was a bit of a relief, having grown tired in recent years of all Marvel films feeling the same, a palette swap of jokes, powers and cast, its refreshing to have a film with its own identity - even if its a film the suffers a bit in quality because of it. Yes Venom has its share of issues, from a baggy middle act, pacing problems to being very flat at points - which isnt surprising with four different writers over as many years - but its definitely a movie that carves its own place within the Marvel universe, aiming to be closer to Deadpool than say Captain America. Unlike Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool however, the cast in Venom dont exactly set the screen alight. Whilst leading man Tom Hardy nor his supporting I wouldn't deem as terrible, they just don't stand out in any form or fashiom either. You could entirely re-cast Venom and end up with pretty much the same product. As Venom unfolds into its final act, Marvel fans will once again be treated to the usual action catharsis theyve come to expect, with some excellent CG at times, and what feels like a machine gun splatter of slow motion all over the show. One particular moment in fact - involving the merging of symbiotes - definitely did stand out for me, its an image that Ive never really seen done on screen before.

Setting the groundwork for what will likely be superior sequel outings, Venom follow's the typical Marvel origin trend of film creation. But its very unlike most Marvel films you have come to expect; showcasing a blend of horror and comedy that really meshes well together before delving into usual CG schlock that has become a staple of the genre.

If the studio would have delved into full horror Venom could have been something truly special, even if at odds with whatever larger MCU plans that may be afoot. Regardless, Venom finally gets a cinematic showing that surpasses Spider-Man 3 - not like that was hard to do though.