Sony has given fans the perfect introduction to a new Marvel universe with the release of Venom on October 5th. Venom stars award-winning actor Tom Hardy, who portrays Eddie Brock, a journalist who becomes possessed by a symbiote, a species of inorganic, extraterrestrial creatures that takes over any inhabitants they can find. Brock plans to take down businessman Carlton Drake; however, he ends up being possessed by the alien symbiote Venom in the process. With newfound superhuman strength and full of rage, Eddie transforms into his polar opposite: a human-eating alien who stops at nothing to get what he wants.

Prior to the film’s release, critics claimed that this movie was doomed from the start, and would bomb in the box office like the critically panned Catwoman. However, with a budget of 1oo million dollars, the company quickly recouped the money used for the film, proving the critics wrong. In its opening weekend, Venom topped the box office with an astonishing 80 million dollars and internationally, Venom made an outstanding 205 million dollars.

Even with the remarkable performances and captivating plot, this movie has accumulated mixed reviews. With a 34% Rotten Tomatoes score among critics, but an 88% score among users, there is no hiding the disconnect between the opinions of the critics and opinions of the masses on this movie. ScreenRant gave the movie a positive review, claiming that critics who gave Venom a bad review have “misunderstood” the movie, writing “If you were to go entirely by the reviews, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Venom was not worth all that waiting on behalf fans and the efforts of those involved.”

With unbelievable action, cameos throughout the movie such as other symbiotes, and astonishing performances from actors Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed, it’s no wonder this movie did so well at the box office. The CGI used in this film has a clean, artificial aesthetic to it. Being the second live-action movie including the character Venom, this has a higher-quality than the one introduced prior in Spider-Man 3.

This is far from the usual comic book film that fans are use to seeing; it’s more violent, and stands out as having the potential to become one of the very best comic book movies. Without spoiling the ending, Venom is left on a cliff hanger that leaves people counting down the days until the next Venom movie comes out.