TL;DR – The Venom films have always had a tension between wanting to be fun character works and needing to fit into this weird franchise they are building. This is the first time that I think the franchise won.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

Venom: The Last Dance Review –

I know when people think about film franchises, the ‘Sony Spider-Man Universe’ that can’t use Spider-Man is kind of a joke. They have not really helped themselves anyway with entries like Morbius and Madame Web. However, I have always had a bit of a soft spot for the Venom films Venom & Venom: Let There Be Carnage. If for no other reason than it was fun to watch Tom Hardy play off himself in the two roles. But I think we might be at the end of that road today.

So, to set the scene, Eddie Brock / Venom (Tom Hardy) is currently hiding out in Mexico after getting blamed for the deaths in the last film. They make a plan to sneak back into America and head to New York, where Eddie knows a judge that they can bribe to make this all go away. However, while they make their plans, little do they know that out in the universe, Knull (Andy Serkis) is posturing from his jail cell and may have found the way out of his eternal damnation. Oh, and the military wants them too.

Okay, I wouldn’t say I liked this film a lot, but that does not mean that all of it is bad. Indeed, there are those fun moments that you really want to see in a movie like this: Venom jumping into different animals, Eddie trying to stop Venom from eating everyone, and the fact that he can’t keep his shoes on is a fun bit. We do get some exciting iconography, the special ops team hanging underneath the osprey on lines is not Godzilla Halo Jump Cool, but it is close. Also, the entire time they were with Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu) was a delight. But if you can spot the thing that links all these points, it is they all appeared in the trailer.

The rest of the film is a bit of a slog, and by a bit, I mean a lot. The entire Military/Scientists working together until one of them turns on the other, leading to a catastrophe subplot that takes up a significant portion of the film has no substance behind it at all. Part of this comes from Chiwetel Ejiofor being criminally underused throughout the film. Also, I am not sure who thought that making Juno Temple play a dull character with a flimsy backstory would be a good idea. These poor character choices are exemplified by the new bad guy being a dude who we only see in flashbacks or sitting on his throne like a less interesting Thanos stuck in a place but surrounded by creatures that can portal jump.

But the character issue only takes us back to Venom 1 problems. What really hurts the film is that anyone speaking dialogue who is not Eddie/Venom is just shouting exposition at each other. It is entirely frustrating to sit there and watch people talk to each other like they are automatons pretending to emulate human speech, though that might be unfair to automatons. The Hippie family is a joke that is used up very quickly yet persists to the end. The decommissioning of Area 51 makes no sense, and the rules around the codex are both strong as concrete and yet profoundly flexible when the narrative needs it to be. There are good ideas that they don’t commit to, like the idea that the creatures eat people and then spit out their blood, which is brutal. But then it has to be PG-13, so they are never used to their full extent. Then there is the Michelle Williams-sized hole in the film, meaning there is no one for Eddie/Venom to play off with any substance. The only time we get a glimpse of this is with Mrs. Chen, and all it shows is how badly it is lacking in the rest of the film.       

In the end, do we recommend Venom: The Last Dance? Unfortunately, no. It is so clear that Tom Hardy is trying, and if you just focus on that character dynamic, there might be something for you here. Unfortunately, we also get the rest of the film as well, desperate to make a real franchise out of this series, but instead acting like an anchor dragging their one exciting property down with it. If you liked Venom: The Last Dance, we would recommend to you The Mitchells vs. The Machines.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Venom: The Last Dance
Directed by – Kelly Marcel
Screenplay by – Kelly Marcel
Story by – Kelly Marcel & Tom Hardy
Based on – Venom created by David Michelinie & Todd McFarlane
Music by – Dan Deacon
Cinematography by – Fabian Wagner
Edited by – Mark Sanger
Production/Distribution Companies – Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Arad Productions, Matt Tolmach Productions, Pascal Pictures, TSG Entertainment, Hutch Parker Entertainment, Hardy Son & Baker & Sony Pictures Releasing
Starring – Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Peggy Lu, Stephen Graham, Rhys Ifans, Alanna Ubach, Hala Finley, Dash McCloud, Clark Backo, Jared Abrahamson, Reid Scott, Cristo Fernández & Andy Serkis
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 15; United States: PG-13