Monday, October 28, 2024

My Review of Venom: The Last Dance (2024)

 


Written by Tom Hardy And Kelly Marcel
Directed by Kelly Marcel

Venom: "Eddie ... It is time."

What an appropriate subtitle for the last in this trilogy and the only success story in these Spidey adjacent movies that Sony insist on making. Weirdly though, for a movie that was meant to end a trilogy, it seemed more interested in setting up more stuff that I'm not sure will be resolved.

For example, the main villain of the piece, Knull (Andy Serkis) has his presence felt but not once do we get to see him share any screen time with Eddie Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy). It's such a baffling choice and Hardy co-wrote the script.

From last time we saw Eddie/Venom they were in a bar, where the bartender (Cristo Fernandez) was getting freaked out by him to finding out that Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham) was dead with Eddie as the main suspect. Except he's dead.

Instead Mulligan's holded up in a secret facility because he's gotten himself attached to a green Symbiote. Our secondary antagonists of the piece included Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and scientists Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) and Sadie Christmas (Clark Backo) and even then, they're not really that bad.

Most of this movie was spent with Eddie and Venom bonding along the way, meeting up with a hippie alien fan family, led by Rhys Ifans and bumping into Mrs Chen (Peggy Lu) during a stay in Las Vegas. There's a very funny dance scene during that particular moment.

As for the rest of the movie, the third act's pretty rushed with Knull's Xenophages on the loose, fight scenes between them and the symbiotes and something of a rushed separation between Eddie and Venom. I mean the scene did hit the right moments but it needed a bit more time to breathe, even if a reunion of sorts was implied.

- The credit scenes included the bartender looking at a destroyed Area-51 and Knull planning his next move now Venom out of the way.
- In the comics, Teddy Payne became Agony. She's attached herself to a purple Symbiote towards the end of the movie.
- Standout music: Yes, it was the uses of Don't Stop Me Now and Dancing Queen.
- Chronology: From where the events of that scene from Spider-Man: No Way Home left off.

I didn't mind Venom: The Last Dance too much. I mean, it's a disjointed mess that felt more set up than a natural trilogy ender. There's fun to be had with it but it's not the greatest way to end what's been a mixed bag anyways.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

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