Film Review - Venom: The Last Dance
Images courtesy of Sony Pictures.
It’s no secret that Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has had more misfires than hits. Created in 2018 with the first Venom movie, each release has consistently fallen flat compared to the web-slinging adventures of Tom Holland in the MCU. Morbius and Madame Web will certainly go down in history for all the wrong reasons. However, can this franchise finally be saved by trilogy closer Venom: The Last Dance? The answer is complicated.
Following the events of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his symbiote partner-in-crime, Venom, are on the run from authorities after being accused of the murder of Detective Mulligan (Stephen Graham). However, a much larger threat looms. Knull (Andy Serkis), a cosmic supervillain, has been imprisoned by the symbiotes he created. To be freed, he needs a mystical cortex inside Venom’s body, which can only be destroyed if Eddie or Venom die. The pair must race against time - as well as the military - to find a solution, as they embark on a weird and wild road trip for their last hurrah.
While the Venom films suffer from the same faults as other recent Sony Spidey installments, such as generic plots, weak villains, and overreliance on VFX, they are still the strongest property of the lot. This is largely due to the chaotic dynamic between Eddie and Venom, which director and writer Kelly Marcel has turned up to one hundred here. Fully embracing the conventions of a buddy film, it is a delight to watch the pair bicker like an old married couple, with Venom delivering all the best one-liners and zingers. Hardy’s commitment to his goofy portrayal of Eddie is refreshing in a movie that takes itself far too seriously.
And that’s where the main issue lies. Venom: The Last Dance can’t decide if it wants to be a campy comedy or a serious superhero movie. One minute, Venom is performing a choreographed dance to ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ with Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu) in Vegas. The next, Null is sitting in a dark and gothic throne room (or whatever it is, looking like a cross between Word of Warcraft and a 2000s emo music video) with his head down, ranting about how he will destroy the universe. The film doesn’t commit to either side, and suffers as a result. With the comedy being one of the highlights of the film, this seems like it would have been the more effective route to take. When the film tries to get dramatic, it becomes dull. Knull is an utterly one-dimensional villain, simply there to tease the future of the franchise. Great actors like Chiwitel Ejiofor and Juno Temple can’t elevate the thin material they’re given, and emotional subplots lead to nowhere.
Still, it manages to one-up its predecessor with an action-packed third act, some impressive creature design, and a surprisingly entertaining Rhys Ifans as the father of a hippie family looking to see some aliens. It’s totally random and probably unnecessary, but it’s a lot of fun to watch.
While Venom: The Last Dance can’t quite save Sony’s universe, it is still leaps and bounds ahead of some of its other entries. But yes, it’s time to wrap Eddie and Venom’s story up before it outstays its welcome.
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Venom: The Last Dance is screening in cinemas now. For tickets and more info, click here.