“Venom” (** out of four) was an OK adaptation of the Marvel comic character about an investigative journalist (Tom Hardy) who is sent to do a story on a greedy bioengineering corporation (headed by Riz Ahmed) and becomes infected with an alien parasite that turns him into the full-scale symbiote creature Venom. Competently made and filled with large-scale visual effects but never develops a sense of awe or wonder and never really gets off the ground. Hardy is better than the thin material he is given and Michelle Williams is strong as his girlfriend. Only Marvel completists or comic-book diehards should check this out.