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 

My Review of Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

 

Written by Tom Hardy And Kelly Marcel

Directed by Andy Serkis

Cletus: "Welcome back, Eddie Brock. It's been a long time. I miss you ... so much."

The biggest trick ever played on a studio was Sony gaining success with their Venom movies. It gave the false impression that audiences wanted movies adjacent to Spider-Man when in reality, I think they just like Tom Hardy in this role. Anyways, on to the review.

The end of the first movie had Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) meeting Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) in prison. This was at the behest of Detective Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham) and it was a meeting that didn't exactly go all that well either.  Not dissimilar to Eddie's life in general as this movie pointed out.

Yes, Eddie and Venom had this odd couple dynamic going well, until they didn't. There was only so much chocolate and chickens that Venom could consume and Eddie was tired of having to try and reign the symbiote in at times. Worse than that, another encounter with Cletus Kasady only resulted in the latter getting his own symbiote and Eddie and Venom going their separate ways.

Watching Venom trying to get new hosts while going to Mrs Chen (Peggy Lu) for comfort was amusing while Eddie was coping without being bonded to Venom as well as his ex-girlfriend Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) being engaged to nice doctor Dan Lewis (Reid Scott). Dan was also dealing with Venom being back on the scene again.

As for the main villain plot, Carnage bonded to Cletus. Cletus wanted to free his girlfriend Frances Barrison/Shriek (Naomie Harris) and Shriek wanted to kill Mulligan. Oh and Carnage didn't especially care for Shriek, creating conflict between him and Cletus. Not to mention the links between Venom and Carnage to boot.

Like the first movie, you've got a rushed third act that's a bit messy on the CGI battle between Venom and Carnage. Annie's got the thankless damsel in distress role, Shriek's poorly utilised and even Cletus got swiftly dealt with after being separated from Carnage. Oh and the movie totally rifled off the end of The Dark Knight and not in a good way.

- Tom Hardy got a story by credit for the movie as well as a producer credit too.

- Mid credit scene had Eddie and Venom see Spider-Man (Tom Holland) on the TV along with J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons).

- Andy Serkis agreed to make the movie if he got to film it in the UK. He was also in the MCU.

- This was originally scheduled for October 2020 but got pushed to 2021 due to COVID.

Standout music: Carl Cox's Carnage, Johnny Cash's San Quentin and Little Simz's Venom.

- Chronology: A few months from where the first movie left off as well as 1996 for the Cletus and Frances backstory.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage isn't the worst sequel you'll see but it's definitely not without its problems. The pacing was rough in parts, Carnage and Shriek are poorly developed and its got a very messy third act. Still the buddy duo between Eddie and Venom did a lot of heavy lifting.

Rating: 6 out of 10

My Review of Venom (2018)

Written by Jeff Pinkner And Scott Rosenberg And Kelly Marcel

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Eddie: "All right, fine, I'm sorry. So, what do you want to do now?"

Venom: "The way I see it, we can do whatever we want."

With the MCU having their way with everyone's favourite Web slinger and Tom Holland proving successful in that role, of course Sony weren't going to sit back and let the rest of the IP do nothing. This line of thinking has been a blessing and a curse for them.

With Sony garnering success with Miles Morales in the Spiderverse movies, for live action,  the idea was to play around with some of Peter Parker's known villains turned antiheroes for ideas. Starting with one of his biggest rivals made sense.

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) was a smart mouth journalist who rubbed people up the wrong way but seemed to have the charm to fall back on. He also had a loving girlfriend named Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) but when Eddie pissed off the wrong guy aka, Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), his relationship with Anne soon ended.

Eddie's mistrust of Drake however ended up being justified as the latter had found an alien parasite from space and he wasted no time callously using unwitting subjects to experiment on with it. One of the parasites named Venom attached itself to Eddie when Drake's scientist Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate) let him investigate the Life Foundation. Needless to say, this was where the movie picked up.

Eddie's symbiotic relationship with Venom definitely provided a source of comedy, battle of wits, a team up with Anne and her new man, Dr Dan Lewis (Reid Scott) and of course, the wrath of a very annoyed Drake. Oh and when Eddie wasn't trying to calm Venom's almost insatiable appetite, there was also another parasite named Riot that took control of Drake with similar results.

While this movie certainly has the entertainment factor, it's the big battle where things went off the rails. Carlton Drake isn't particularly intimidating to begin and his possession of Riot isn't as well thought out as it could've been. The fights between Venom and Riot alone are surprisingly rushed in a rather flat third act. 

On the plus side, once the big fight was dealt with, Eddie managed to get back into Anne's good grace and strike a compromise with his new best friend. We even got a scene where the pair help snarky convenience store owner, Mrs Chen (Peggy Lu) from getting robbed without killing. 

- Mid credit scene had Eddie make a prison visit to serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) who promised "Carnage".

- Post credit sequence was a long clip for Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse. 

- Stan Lee had a brief cameo near the end of the movie, walking g a dog and talking to Eddie.

- John Jameson (Chris O'Hara) appeared at the start of the movie to introduce the symbiote into things.

- Standout music: Enimem's Venom and Pusha T's No Problem.

- Chronology: There's a six month time jump during the movie.

Venom definitely has an entertaining factor that for the most along with a lively lead performance from Tom Hardy does carry this movie more than it should. The third act is a letdown with Riot being a poor counter villain and the love story with Anne does feel a tad tacked on. Saying that, the fun factor does outweigh logic gaps and certain creative choices.

Rating: 7 out of 10