Venom: The Last Dance
Although I’ve not been a huge fan of these big-screen adaptations of the Venom comic-book character, this final instalment lets Tom Hardy’s fun dual performance take centre stage, showcasing the enjoyable odd-couple relationship that he’s developed across the trilogy.
Premise: In the aftermath of the second film, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is on the run, implicated in the death of a cop. But that soon becomes the least of his problems after Knull, the banished creator of the symbiotes, dispatches an army of symbiote-hunting aliens to find Eddie and Venom.
Review:
By this concluding chapter of the trilogy, I’ve made my peace with the fact that these movies are very far removed from the Spider-Man villain comic-book origins of Venom that I grew up on. But while I was prepared to accept this movie adaptation as its own take on the material, that still didn’t excuse the issues I had with the generic plot, muddled CGI and inconsistent characterisations in the first Venom movie. Thankfully, I found the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, much more coherent and consistent, even if it was no more than an entertaining mid-tier entry into the genre.
For this final chapter, writer/director Kelly Marcel has happily decided to wholeheartedly embrace the ludicrous of the series, resulting in a film that is (despite its flaws) certainly the most fun and accessible of the trilogy. The plot is utterly bonkers – focusing on the ancient alien creator of the symbiotes called Knull, who we’ve never heard of before and who we learn next to nothing about in this movie. For reasons which make absolutely no sense, the only key to unlocking Knull’s otherworldly prison is now in the possession of Eddie Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy), and so Knull dispatches alien symbiote-hunters to Earth find them – while the US military (headed by Chiwetel Ejiofor’s general and Juno Temple’s scientist) and a bunch of new symbiotes are also on the trail of Eddie and Venom for various reasons.
“…despite all its nonsense, it’s actually quite a lot of fun…”
And if you thought that sounded insane, I’ve not even mentioned yet that there’s a whole subplot involving Rhys Ifans as an aging hippie alien-conspiracist, Stephen Graham briefly pops up unexpectedly (and some would say, completely unnecessarily) as his character from the last film, and to cap it all off, Eddie randomly bumps into Peggy Lu’s Mrs Chen in a Las Vegas casino in an interlude that eventually leads to an ABBA-themed dance sequence.
But despite all that – or maybe because of it – Venom: The Last Dance is actually quite a lot of fun. The nonsense about alien monsters, secret military bases, and an intergalactic codex may be nonsense, but it’s a hell of a lot more coherent than the plot to the first film, and it’s a lot lighter and more entertaining than the serial-killer themed previous sequel. When I learned that the main antagonists in this film were CGI aliens, I was very concerned that the final act would descend into the same kind of CGI-fuelled, eye-straining mess that blighted the finale of the first film – but actually, first time director Kelly Marcel does a great job of marshalling both the CGI elements and the practical stunt work.
“…allows the weird odd-couple dynamic to take centre stage…”
Admittedly, other than Tom Hardy, none of the cast get a great deal to do (Stephen Graham in particular is wasted), but this allows the film to really focus on Tom Hardy’s dual performances as Eddie and Venom, and to allow their weird odd-couple dynamic to take centre stage. I wasn’t convinced by the way Eddie and Venom interacted as separate entities in the first film, and the second film drove them apart for much of its runtime – but Venom: The Last Dance really brings to life the friendship and bond that’s developed over the course of the trilogy between Eddie and his alien symbiote. While the storyline may be too predictable to generate much in terms of genuine emotional stakes, the fact that I felt anything when looking back over Eddie’s and Venom’s relationship over the course of the trilogy is a testament to Tom Hardy’s work.
Unfortunately, the film’s weaknesses do little to counter the allegations that Sony’s “Spider-Man-Less Spider-Verse” is nothing more than a cynical attempt to milk their IP for money while Tom Holland is off being Spider-Man in the MCU – but at least Tom Hardy’s wholehearted commitment to the role has elevated the material throughout the trilogy.
“…a piece of popcorn entertainment that should delight existing fans…”
Ultimately, Venom: The Last Dance is still very much another mid-tier comic-book movie, with a flimsy plot and underdeveloped characters (outside of the main duo) – but compared to Sony’s other superhero movies (like its recent Madame Web), this is at least a coherent-if-simplistic piece of popcorn entertainment that should delight existing fans of the series, while also offering some escapist nonsense for newer viewers.
And yes, there are a couple of mid-credits scenes … but with Sony rumoured to have pulled the plug on its struggling “Spider-Man-Less Spider-Verse”, it remains to be seen if this truly is the end.
