Venom (2018)

We have entered into a different battlefield.  This newest action movie is different from the past movies not because of gruesome violence or sexual content.  This movie is different because it takes a magnifying glass to the central problem of each person – morals.  We go about our days “trying to be a good person.”  There is nothing wrong with this, except for the part when we stop trying.  That sounds like something you could find in a fortune cookie.  But the truth is that in the year 380, a monk named Pelagius began to teach that you could achieve salvation through your own efforts alone.  He was subsequently condemned as a heretic, but his teaching lives on.  A major concern today is, how can we be good people?  The part which Pelagius left out is grace.  God’s life within us.  It is through grace that we are saved – God’s gift to us.

Now back to the movie.  The main character, Eddie Brock, appears to have some loose morals throughout the entire film.  He still tries to do what is right, even using the wrong methods to achieve his ends.  The major breakdown of his life happens near the beginning of the film when he uses the information he found on the email account of his girlfriend to accuse a rich inventor of inappropriate methods in his research.  This all backfires on him when he is fired from his job, and his girlfriend, who is fired as well, dumps him.  This is a classic setup for a superhero to emerge.  But that is not the case in this movie.  Eddie does not suddenly find super strength, or begin to spend his life in service of others.  Rather, he continues in his self-absorbed ways.  He encounters this alien parasite which begins to live in his body, and he is Venom.

Here is where the irony continues.  The parasite tells him that he likes Eddie.  He has been inside of his head, and he thinks Eddie is a wimp, but he likes him.  Rather than highlighting the underdog nature of this show, this reveals something much more problematic.  It is an encounter between two self-absorbed beings, in which they are not drawn out of their selves, but rather begin to hurt others around them together.  This almost sounds like a tragedy.  And this is the entire movie.

The way that the parasite appears is rather frightening.  Rows of sharpened teeth, and these angular eyes.  This is a monster which is built to destroy.  As much as we see this monster, by the end I found myself beginning to get used to him.  He was scary at the beginning, but after all of the jokes and action sequences, it was no big deal.  This is a very close parallel to sin!  When we are faced with a choice, it is never easy to choose the evil.  When we choose it over and over, soon we become numb to it.  It is almost like an old friend.  In this way, sin has found its way into our lives, and we are trapped in a cycle of pain and destruction.  The parasite was always hungry, even doing damage to Eddie.  Sin does not do good to us.  It does not free us from problems or help us to do the right thing.  Sin always hurts.

The lesson from this movie is not what was present, but what was absent.  Love was absent in this movie.  Love, that choice to “will the good of the other.”  That sacrifice where you are willing to lay down your life for the other.  I did not see love in this movie.  It was funny.  It had great action scenes.  It illustrated an underdog’s journey to the top.  But it did not show an example of love.  As much good as Eddie did in the film, he still remained morally ambiguous.  We cannot live that way!  It is easy not claim a position, but, as it is often said, “If you don’t stand for something, you fall for anything.”  It is a matter of life and death for us to take a stand as Christians.  To always choose the right, and avoid the wrong, no matter what.  Otherwise, nothing separates us from the villain in this film, who had noble motives but evil means to accomplish his plans.  And finally, most importantly, grace.  Grace is what will give us the strength to overcome any obstacle.  So let’s do good, with the help of grace.