Goodbye to the franchise that didn’t work to begin with.
People who have followed my work through the years will know that I’m not a big fan of the “Venom” movies, especially not the first film. To recap, I hated the first film for its disgusting and crass tone, and I felt the sequel “Let There Be Carnage” was an improvement because of its Woody Harrelson villain, but I still couldn’t recommend it for its short time length which crammed the story and wall to wall CGI effects in. And now, we have “Venom: The Last Dance,” which is said to be the last entry. But then again, they said the same thing about “Jurassic World: Dominion,” and now, we’re getting “Jurassic World: Rebirth” next year.
What did we expect from a Marvel franchise that talked the talk and never walked the walk? If this sequel is the final entry, then it doesn’t really take full advantage of it. It takes some ideas, and yet, does very little with them, as if this movie is in a hurray to be done. And the amazing thing is that I had nothing to do with the filmmaking. I just do the critiquing.
When we last saw Eddie Brock and Venom (both played by Tom Hardy), they both fled to Mexico, and now they’re both accused of murdering the Detective Mulligan (Stephen Graham), who actually survives thanks to a symbiote. They must embark on a journey to New York City to get their names cleared. However, they’re also on the run from government agents-led by Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor)-who are interested in the parasitic lifeforms, and apparently, Venom’s home world, whose inhabitants must kill him.
Knull is the creator of the symbiotes, and believes that Venom is a traitor to their world. We mostly see his head down with his long blonde hair covering the sides of his face, but we also get reports that he’s played by Andy Serkis (who directed the last entry) disguised by motion capture and CGI. And when Eddie got stabbed, it set up something called the codex, which unites both Eddie and Venom, and basically works like a tracking device. And it can only be destroyed if the human host dies.
For those of you who actually listened to my advice on the “Venom” franchise before, I’m sorry if what I’m writing doesn’t make sense.
The movie’s new cast also includes Juno Temple as scientist Teddy Payne haunted by her tragic past and wanting to go deeper in the symbiotic experiments; Rhys Ifans and Alanna Ubach as a hippie couple taking their kids to a soon-to-be-destroyed Area 51 and hoping to find some aliens (which they will); Peggy Lu back as the convenient store owner Mrs. Chen who has more energy than before; and even Cristo Fernández as the bartender Eddie comes across in the MCU and in his universe.
As always in the franchise, the CGI constantly overshadows the story. The bad aliens look like they were borrowed from the Fox “Alien” franchise or “Star Wars,” and when they eat people, their backs (at least I think they’re backs) spray their blood and guts. And regarding the codex, there’s also a battle when more people get saved by the symbiotes, and come in different colors and appearances.
“Venom: The Last Dance,” now directed by franchise writer Kelly Marcel, sneaks in some fun moments like a horse ride that Eddie doesn’t want to have again and I like how Venom also takes control of a fish and a frog. But what are we missing here? Hardy, who started the year off brilliantly with “The Bikeriders,” was better the last time around, while in this threequel, he still looks too tired to be having fun. It seems that his voice of Venom is the one enjoying himself. And you also get some boring aspects from the likes of Ejiofor, Temple, Ifans, and even Ubach (whom I’ve met and is a really fun person to get to know).
At least this isn’t the first trilogy conclusion to go out with a whimper.