By Jack Ransom - October 26, 2024
The third and (allegedly) final instalment in Sony’s symbiote anti-hero film series. Venom: The Last Dance sees Eddie and Venom (both Tom Hardy) on the run and being pursued by both their worlds. As circumstances tighten they’re compelled to make a heart-wrenching choice that could mark the end of their symbiotic partnership.
Growing up, Venom was always one of my favourite characters. I had countless comic book issues featuring him, was ecstatic when I first saw him appear on the big screen in Spider-Man 3 when I was around younger and also replayed Ultimate Spider-Man on the PlayStation 2 to death. To say the kid in me was excited to see Venom in his first solo outing in 2018 would be an understatement (that flick was my first IMAX trip at around 10am in the morning on opening day). I enjoyed it… however, on repeated viewings it was abundantly clear that lingering disappointment hungover me and the films clashing tones and mediocre action didn’t always gel with Hardy’s bonkers performance. However, it nearly made a billion dollars so of course a sequel was inevitable.
The brilliantly titled Venom: Let There Be Carnage ditched nearly all semblance of seriousness that the first film established. Instead embracing chaotic, campy goof that doubled down on the Venom/Eddie odd couple formula and rocketed along 90 minutes of pure-90’s-esque fun, albeit with a toned down Carnage of whom really would have benefited from more blood and guts. Now in 2024, we arrive at the conclusion of a trilogy that honestly, I genuinely feel hasn’t earned the sincere and emotional stakes that it is pushing through amongst the expected silliness. To be frank, Venom: The Last Dance is easily the worst of the three, is bafflingly inept in its storytelling and brings to the screen the comic book genre's most lacklustre villain. The only aspect that keeps it from being a Madame Web level disaster is Hardy’s commitment to the bit and bursts of wacky eccentricity amongst the generic mishmash that is the plot.
It is abundantly clear that the filmmakers didn’t have a scooby of how this was going to play out at all. There are about five different character subplots going on at once, that culminate in, you guessed it, a big CGI punch up! You have Eddie and Venom on the run to get to the Statue of Liberty…? Yep, because no-one will notice them there. New big bad Knull (voiced by Andy Serkis), is shockingly uninteresting. You will be surprised to hear he wants to destroy the universe and… I’m falling asleep if I go any further. Anyway, he’s confined to a symbiote prison chair which means he literally does nothing for the 1 minute of total screen time he has and sends a Xenophage to hunt down Venom, as he has a codex in his body that will set Knull free.
This can only be tracked when Venom is in full form and yes, your first thought is - “Why is Knull only after him now, and not over the previous two films where he continuously turned into Venom?” You also have a myriad of instantly underdeveloped human side characters: Juno Temple’s Dr. Paine (who’s only trait is she got struck by lightning and has flashbacks to her brother’s death), Chiwitel Ejiofor’s generic soldier/bounty hunter (he is hired by a shady organisation of which you never see the face of the mystery man) and lastly a comedic relief hippy family led by Rhys Ifans who attempt to provide a more human connection for Eddie to relate to… by delivering a cringe inducing rendition of Space Oddity which feels like an eternity.
The structure is all over the place and despite being around 100 minutes (110 with credits) the pacing suffers greatly due to the choppy editing and nonsensical lack of a main goal or any established stakes. Seriously, who cut this together? Shots awkwardly linger for a few moments after conversations have finished, the framing of certain dialogue exchanges is illogical and the speed of which Venom and Eddie’s pursuers catch up with them between scenes is ridiculous at points. The moments that the film is at its most entertaining are the brief bursts of silly Eddie and Venom ramblings: Venom’s excitement at a horse, the weird public outbursts and a jaw-droppingly brain searing ‘last dance’ with Mrs. Chen in Vegas to ABBA (which nearly justifies seeing this in IMAX).
The action is substantially mediocre and aside from the gooey, explosion filled mess of the finale each set piece is so hastily cut together they leave no impact whatsoever. The film’s best set piece is the opening sequence which sees the duo take down a dog fighting racket. From there we get a 30 second plane brawl, a couple minute long river rush and the aforementioned exhaustive blowout which will have you completely zoning out. From a stylistic perspective this is a step down from the sleazy, grimy, gothic tinged cinematography of Let There Be Carnage. Instead we revert to the bland familiar Sony labs, empty deserts and flat lighting which makes the CGI incredibly noticeable. There is a bit of life in the glossy sheen of Vegas, however this is a fleeting distraction.
Tom Hardy once again is carrying this on his shoulders and to be honest even he at points seems not particularly locked into the nonsense. Sure he does deliver the twitchy, exhausted, muttering freak outs and that accent is still completely hilarious, but the amount of attempted emotional beats and “remember all the great times we had” flashbacks simply don’t land, because these films have never had standout pivotal character moments. Juno Temple, Chiwitel Ejiofor and Rhys Ifans are fine, but they really have nothing to work with here outside of familiar character traits. Andy Serkis grumbles along as the laughable Knull and Stephen Graham takes the money and runs in an utterly pointless return. At least Peggy Lu is still having a riot as Mrs. Chen.
Venom: The Last Dance is a disappointing, messy, incoherent splat of symbiote goo. The handful of wacky moments bring a few chuckles (unintentional or not) and the chemistry between Eddie and Venom carries the middling screenplay along. However, the action is dull, the overarching villain is pathetic and the great supporting cast line-up never gets a chance to fully establish these characters due to the lacklustre script.
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE IS OUT NOW IN CINEMAS
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