By 
A CLUNKY AND WEAK “LAST DANCE”
SUPERHERO JAUNT
In 2018, Sony Pictures released Venom, a superhero origin movie that was to focus on the classic Spider-Man villain. Directed by Reuben Fleischer, the film, which starred Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, and Riz Ahmed, follows new journalist Eddie Brock, who unwillingly gains superpowers after becoming the host of an alien symbiote, who calls himself Venom, whose species plan to invade earth. The film received generally negative reviews from both critics and moviegoers alike, with many finding criticisms the film’s messy narrative, inconsistent tones, and lacking a strong connection to Spider-Man universe. Although, many praised Tom Hardy’s performance throughout the movie as Brock / Venom. Still, looking beyond those points, Venom was considered a box office success as the feature grossed roughly $856 million, becoming the seventh highest grossing movie of 2018. Because of this, Sony Pictures saw the benefit of expanding upon this particular character and decided to greenlight a sequel with Venom: Let There be Carnage being released in October 2021 Hardy reprised his role as Eddie Brock and starred opposite actor Woody Harrelson, who plays Cletus Kasady, a convicted serial killer that becomes a formidable foe after become the host of an offshoot of Venom named Carnage. Like the previous film, Venom: Let There Be Carnage faced mixed to negative reviews and opinions, but was deemed a box office success by making well over $500 million worldwide. Now, three after the release of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Sony Pictures and director Kelly Marcel present the suppose final entry in this representation of Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote with the release of Venom: The Last Dance. Does this movie close out the narrative that began back in 2018 in a satisfactory way or is it just a haphazard and incoherent superhero outing that lacks both substance and finesse within this undertaking?
THE STORY
Under his now “commonplace” unusual circumstance, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is current a fugitive, looking to hide out in Mexico with his symbiote partner-in-crime, Venom, after Detective Mulligan (Stephan Graham) is killed. When the news of his manhunt spreads, Eddie comes up with a plan to visit New York City for help, but the man and his mischievous counterpart only make it as far as Nevada. Within “The Silver State” lies Area 51, which is being prepared for decommission, while Area 55 remains elusive, which sees Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) in pursuit of symbiote study while Commander Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) manages security for a facility that’s filled with alien life. Meanwhile, across the galaxy, the god-like being known as Knull (Andy Serkis) is sealed away in prison, sending his xenophage army to find the “codex”, which is the key to his freedom. This particular codex prize resides within the pairing combination of Eddie and Venom, adding additional trouble to their lives as they evade military and extraterrestrial alien threats, realizing that the pair needs to stay together or both will fall.
THE GOOD / THE BAD
Borrowing some sentences and lines from my review of Venom: Let There Be Carnage….. the cinematic age of superhero blockbuster is here and is starting to show it weary. Yes, the endeavors make money at the box office and are crowd pleasers, but the ideas are starting to blend together and it’s hard to come up with something new and exciting within this genre. Case in point….2018’s Venom. I was definitely interested in seeing this movie, especially after the poor reception of the iconic Spider-Man villain in 2007’s Spider-Man. Yet, at the same time, I was a bit leery about the project. It looked like it wanted to be dark and edgy, but the film’s promo / marketing for the feature didn’t entice me as much. The result of the film’s final cut leaves a lot to be desired as I found Venom to be a messy superhero endeavor. I did like Tom Hardy in the movie as he basically threw himself in the role and was completely committed to playing the role of Eddie Brock. In fact, it was kind of amusing to see Hardy, who always play a straightforward and / or multi-layered character persona in his career, playing such a wacky and “out-there” character. It was definitely amusing to see, but it was hardly my favorite role he’s played in his acting career. However, pretty much everything else about Venom was pretty bland and “meh” to me. Everything just felt clunky and haphazardly messy, with the film struggling to find its place amongst the age of superhero blockbusters. Sadly, the same can be said for the follow-up sequel, with 2018’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage following the same tropes and pitfalls that its predecessor stumble through, but did it even worse. Again, Hardy continued to be the best part of the sequel, continuing to be totally committed to both playing Eddie and Venom in such a goofy duality of personas. Everything else, however, felt way subpar and very rushed, including the film’s main antagonist in Carnage, which felt utterly tamed and rather bland. Perhaps the only really good thing was the movie’s secret Easter Egg ending, which teased the promise of what was to come in Spider-Man: No Way Home. In the end, however, both Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage are prime examples of how superhero fatigue has settled in, with a movie studio unable to discern a comic book property the correct way and create another lame and tiresome spin-off endeavor from Sony’s Spider-Man cinematic universe.
This brings me back to talking about Venom: The Last Dance, a 2024 superhero film, the follow-up to 2022’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and the third (and supposedly) final installment in this Venom trilogy. Given the secret Easter Egg ending in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it would seem that Sony Pictures wasn’t done with the tale of Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote counterpart (Venom) and that the supposed third Venom feature was going to be greenlit within the near future. When it was, I was a bit “meh” as I wasn’t completely thrilled about the first two movies and the prospect of a third installment didn’t really entice much. Of course, I was interested in seeing Hardy coming back to the dual role of Brock / Venom, but everything else…. I wasn’t excited to see. After some time buzzing around the internet with little tidbits here and there, the film’s marketing campaign began to ramp up a bit, including the film’s movie trailers that began to appear both online and in theaters. From the trailers alone, it looked decent enough. I wasn’t super crazy about them, but they did offer some blockbuster superhero distraction from the previews alone and definitely looked better than the previews showing for the last Venom movie, with The Last Dance showcasing more action and a somewhat “finality” to Brock / Venom’s storyline. So, while the film’s final trailer did look promising, I wasn’t super keen on seeing Venom: The Last Dance, which was set to be release on October 25th, 2024. I did eventually see the movie a few weeks after its initial theatrical release, due to my busy work schedule. Now, I am finally ready to share my thoughts on this third Venom outing. And what did I think of it? Well, sadly, it was disappointing. While not a complete dumpster fire as some are making it out to be, Venom: The Last Dance produces a lot of the same problems as its predecessors, which contains a rather flat and uninspiring superhero romp that does little to elevate its cardboard story and characters, despite Hardy’s committed role as both Brock and Venom. It’s not as bad and messy like Let There Be Carnage, but that’s not really saying much.
Venom: The Last Dance is directed by Kelly Marcel, who makes her directorial debut with this particular film. With a background as producer / writer for previous two Venom movies as well as Saving Mr. Banks and Fifty Shades of Grey, Marcel does seem a bit suitable for a project like this, especially since she is a bit familiar in the writer department aspect for the past two Venom movies. However, the jump from the writing room to the director’s chair can be a bit daunting task indeed, with Marcel standing on a bit of shaky ground, especially when considering the polarizing views and opinions on the previous Venom entries. Still, for the positives, Marcel does the classic “keeping up with appearances” for this installment, with The Last Dance focusing a lot of time and narrative focus on the relationship between Eddie Brock and the symbiote Venom, producing some fun and interesting commentary messages that this unlikely pair and how their relationship has come since they first bonded with each other. This, of course, brings up some of the comedic parts that are played for large emphasis throughout the feature’s runtime. To its effect, this probably has been the “bread and butter” of these movies, with Marcel keeping that intent ongoing in this picture and focusing more on the comedic level of jokes and gags. It’s not out of place and actually continues the common comedy thread from the previous entries into this new one. It definitely works and, while not a full-on riot, still produces plenty of humorous bits that certainly made me chuckle, especially in Venom’s verbal responses and what Eddie is put through.
While the humor does play a big part in the film, there are a few small nuggets of dramatic reflection for some emotional beats in Eddie / Venom’s story, especially towards the climax of the third act. It’s nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary hard-hitting, but it does give some better context to their respective relationship together from the entire narrative of this Venom movie series. I also do have to say that the film’s action was a little bit better handled than the previous Venom movies, with The Last Dance showcasing some more elaborate and engaging sequences of superhero visual effects and heroics that are being displayed. It does get a bit messy here and there (more on that below), but, for the most part, the action scenes do work well enough to make for some compelling blockbuster flavor and for fun entertainment. Additionally, the movie does have a fast pacing, much like Let There Be Carnage, with Marcel keeping the film runtime trimmed down to 110 minutes long (one hour and fifty minutes) and it doesn’t feel like that long of a picture to watch, which is a good thing. In the end, while not where nearly as perfect as was probably intended, Marcel does make The Last Dance somewhat decent enough that works better as a third act in a trilogy storytelling fashion.
For its presentation, The Last Dance does continue the common trend of “keeping up appearances” for the rest of the Venom franchise, with the film looking to find a pleasing balance of realism background settings and fantastical moments of superhero blockbuster flourishes throughout. This does makes the movie feel like a commonplace big studio tentpole and does meet the industry standard for production like this and, while that’s a good thing, it does make the movie feel a bit mundane from a background aesthetics. Don’t get me wrong, everything looks evenly keel, but none of the setting and areas utilized in the feature are memorable, especially since this particular movie takes the main characters out of the primary location from the previous two are dropped in more of barren desert landscape of southwestern region of the United States. Yes, there are a couple of elaborate pieces like a few scenes in Las Vegas as well as in the military base on Area 55, but nothing to be “wowed” over. Still, for better or worse, it does get the job done and, while not as visually eye-popping as one would expect from a superhero movie, the main “behind the scenes” team, including Chris Lowe (production design), Lucy Eyre (set decorations), Daniel Orlandi (costume designs), and the entire art direction team and the hair / make-up department, for making their efforts in making the movie feel the way it is. Additionally, the cinematography work by Fabian Wagner does an adequate job in bring some of the more “fantastical” moments to the proceedings, which do help build some of the more CGI moments of the blockbuster variety. Lastly, while the film’s score, which was composed by Dan Deacon, does a decent job in bringing the movie’s music throughout the entire endeavor, the songs utilized in the picture’s soundtrack do bring some interesting moments that do bring some levity whenever they do appear. It’s nothing fantastic or “out of the norm” for a project like this, but these particular musical moments do compliment the film’s visual and overall tone exactly.
Unfortunately, The Last Dance isn’t exactly the quintessential superhero movie out there…. let alone the best Venom movie of the trilogy, with the project being hampered by many various aspects, including many that plagued the previous two films. How so? Well, for starters, the story being told is rather weak and actually ends up being the weakest one of this supposed trilogy. The film’s script, which was penned by Marcel (who pulls double duty on this project) as well as a co-working for story by Hardy, leaves a lot to be desired in its undertaking and overall execution in the film. As mentioned, there does seem to be some emotional heart / reflection in the characters of Eddie / Venom, with the unlikely pair having some wholesome moments upon their coexistence and relationship. This, of course, offers some content in the story and gives a somewhat finality towards their journey together, which (again) does work. However, everything else about the movie’s narrative is messy, vague, and too much going on; resulting the script lacking substance throughout. Yes, the comedy does work a few times, but shouldn’t take more precedent over an overall narrative. Plus, there are a lot of narrative threads from Eddie / Venom’s journey, Dr. Payne’s personal plight of her past, to Commander Strickland’s mission, to the Moon’s family involvement (something that felt ripped right out of theatrical cut of the Justice League with the Russian family) and none of them really benefit from the film’s presentation, with all feeling hollow and lackluster. Such threads feel ambitious, yet never really come “full circle”, leaving them clunkily handled from start to finish.
Additionally, this also creates a problem for many of the film’s characters, who feel very stock-like and boring to watch, despite the acting talent involved. I only really cared about Hardy’s Eddie, which was mostly due to him being the main character of this film franchise, but everyone else felt too “cookie cutter” and generic. This then results in The Last Dance having a rather formulaic / predictable narrative feeling throughout. For better or worse, it’s a chase movie, with Eddie evading and thwarting the capture of a militaristic force, yet, while the storytelling path has been utilized before, it does seem rather dull and boring to watch in this movie, especially since Marcel doesn’t offer much creative ingenuity in the plot. Plus, I felt that xenophage creatures, while looking somewhat impressive in their designs, feels a bit underwhelming, acting as mindless “minions” to their master, who is kept “off-stage” elsewhere for most of the feature and mumbling orders, commands, and edicts every now again. It just seems rather bland for an antagonist and, while Riot and Carnage had their problems in the previous two Venom movies, Knull and his army of xenophages feel thinly sketched and flat as villains.
Because of this, The Last Dance suffers from pacing problems throughout the movie, which is quite strange because, while I do praise the movie for having a rather short runtime, it does feel much longer than it needs to be. Perhaps due to the fact that the movie lacks substance (both in story and characters) that feels rather boring and senseless at times. This means that Marcel, from a director’s standpoint, lacks the finesse and understanding to helm such an ambitious superhero project the correct way, which results in a rather fragmented and clunky superhero film. Again, I do praise her for at least making the attempt, but the fact of the matter is that The Last Dance is rather blunt instrument of a movie that lacks the proper tools and necessity to make for a compelling / coherent superhero movie.
This is perhaps most apparent during the climatic finale in the third act, which has a lot going on, but feels extremely haphazard with too many CGI fights (happening all at once) that become rather mind-numbing to watch. It’s almost hard to watch as you can’t figure out who’s who during this portion due to many CGI constructs fighting as well as the scene taking place at night. Yes, the emotional beats during this third act finale semi-redeem this blunder, but it doesn’t help that the final battle in The Last Dance is rather rushed, incoherent at times, and rather feels too much like a video game cutscenes from one of today’s next gen console.
Lastly, the film’s marketing campaign (I believe) showed off too much of the “best scenes” that The Last Dance had to offer and, while those particular scenes were good, it revealed too much about the film’s final product and sort of ruined the surprises / moments that were meant to be quite exciting and thrilling. Naturally, this has been quite the problem with today’s movie marketing campaigns, with various trailers and promos showcasing some of the best moments and / or revealing too much, leaving the actual scene in the movie rather moot and unsurprising.
The cast in The Last Dance is a bit of mixed bag of sorts, with many of the supporting players in the movie not really delivering some memorable performances or just having rather flat and generic characters written for them. It’s not for a lack of trying from the acting talent involved on this project (no one gives particular bad / terrible performance), but it looks like they were given little to no direction, which results in characters that come across as either plainly bland or just mediocrely adequate. Perhaps the best (and continues be the beacon of hope for this entire franchise) would be actor Tom Hardy, who plays the central protagonist role of Eddie Brock / Venom once again. Hardy, who is known for his roles in Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and Warrior, has become quite a capable actor over the years; amassing a credible acting career and a sizeable list of memorable characters that he has portrayed. As mentioned earlier, Hardy’s involvement in the 2018’s Venom (as well as his reprisal in 2021’s Let There Be Carnage) was solid, and I appreciate how committed he was to embrace the zany / crazy antics that were found within Eddie Brock’s entanglement with an alien symbiote (i.e., Venom) living inside of him. It wasn’t his best role as I still found the role to be a tad wonky at times, but I still applaud Hardy for playing the role and sticking to it. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Hardy is just humorous and amusing when he reprises the character of Eddie Brock in The Last Dance.
While most of his past character roles are very serious and / or straight-forward, Hardy’s Brock is fun and entertaining; watching the actor basically go comical and act a little bit of a goofball as he wrestles with such a twisted relationship that he has with Venom. As mentioned, the relationship between the pair continues to be the main crux of the movie and Hardy embraces that well. There’s not much of character growth that Brock, which is the big letdown, as there was more development and well-roundness found in the first Venom film than this one or even in the previous entry. The Last Dance does do a little bit deeper within some more emotional beats, with Eddie (as well as Venom) reflect on their time together with the thought of what would become of them if they were to separate. It definitely adds a bit more layer to the story and one that I actually did like. Plus, I still like how Hardy is totally committed, and one does certainly have to appreciate that. In the end, while it isn’t his best role, I do find that the Hardy’s Eddie Brock and Venom is certainly the main selling point of this film’s sequel, with the actor literally carrying the movie (once again) on his shoulders from onset to conclusion.
Behind Hardy’s Eddie and Venom, the film does prove a large focus on several different supportive characters throughout the movie, but (unfortunately) none of them really amount to much in both their talent’s performance or how flimsy they are written into the movie’s story. First, there is the character of Rex Strickland, a military commander for Imperium who is trying Eddie and trying to capture his Venom symbiote for his organization, and who is played by actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange and 12 Years a Slave). The problem? Well, the character of Strickland is rather generic and acts like the singular / formulaic hardened military commander hunting the main character, with very little deviation from the basic setup. I love Ejiofor as an actor and was quite excited for him to play a role in this movie, but I was disappointed with how his characters pans out to be and that his performance is a bit underwhelming. Similarly, the character of Dr. Teddy Payne, a scientist for Imperium who is studying symbiotes and who is played by actress Juno Temple (Ted Lasso and Atonement) follows the same faulty trappings of character presentation and development. There is an attempt to help elevate the character, including a tragic backstory of her brother’s death from her past, but none of it really matters that much to the main narrative being told, which results in Dr. Payne being just another generic governmental scientist. Even Temple’s performance is just mediocre and really doesn’t give much weight behind it, which is disappointing.
After her, the next character would be Martin Moon, a hippie and an alien enthusiast who befriends Eddie on his journey, and who is played by actor Rhys Ifans (Spider-Man and House of the Dragons). The character of Martin definitely fits into this Venom movie as the role is played with humorous bits and off-beat humor, especially one for being a hippie and alien savant, as well as giving moments metaphors and reflective clarity in a few times to Eddie. Ifans does a good job in playing the quirky character and does make for an amusing character in the movie. That being said, this plays up into some of the problems that I highlighted above during the movie’s third act and the character is merely there for philosophical moments of reflection and to push the narrative along a few times. Still, of these three side characters, Ifans’s Martin was probably my favorite one and actually worked the best. Lastly, the movie does try to bring some importance and gravitas to the introduction of the character Knull, the creator of the symbiotes, who seeks Eddie and Venom’s codex to free himself from his imprisonment and who is voiced by Andy Serkis (War for the Planet of the Apes and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers). Similarly to what I mentioned a few paragraphs above, the character of Knull is interesting and cool concept, but there isn’t much to him to do in the movie and is merely to advance the overall arcing plot of The Last Dance. It’s disappointing because the film’s script clearly wants to say more about him, but he’s left in the shadows for most of the feature. I’m sure there is a plan for him in some type of future ideas for this cinematic Spider-Man universe, but there isn’t a whole lot in this movie. Still, Serkis does give a good vocal performance as Knull.
The rest of the cast, including actress Alanna Ubach (Euphoria and Coco) as Martin’s wife / fellow hippie Nova Moon, actress Hala Finley (Back Roads and Paradise Highway) as Martin’s daughter Echo, actor Dash McCloud (Old Dads and Candy) as Martin’s son Leaf, actor Jared Abrahamson (American Animals and Bad Things) as Captain Forest, actor Reid Scott (Veep and My Boys) as Dr. Dan Lewis, actress Clark Backo (Letterkenny and Designated Survivor) as Sadie, actor Stephen Graham (Snatch and Boardwalk Empire) as Detective Mulligan, and actress Peggy Lu (Dealing with Dad and Little America), make up the remaining supportive minor characters in the movie. Like what I said above, these characters are merely designed for window dressings for the feature and sometimes act as one of the weaker elements that the movie has to offer, despite some of their small on-screen capacities. That being said, it was interesting (and fun) to see Graham and Lu come back to reprise their Venom character roles from the previous installment, even if their involvement was limited. It was just a fun continuity feeling that connects this movie to others.
Lastly, the movie does offer two Easter Egg scenes during the end credits sequences, with one during the mid-credits portion and the other at the very end. While I won’t spoil what it presented during both of those scenes, both contain some interesting teasers of what possibly could come in future installments in this Spidey cinematic universe.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While on the run from the authorities to clear his name, Eddie Brock and his symbiote Venom share their last tango with each other and face forces that seek to tear them apart in the movie Venom: The Last Dance. Director Kelly Marcel’s latest film seeks to close out the narrative that began back in 2018, following Eddie and Venom’s journey on a sort of “last hurrah” as the pair evade forces beyond domestic and foreign to both of them, with plenty of visual pizzaz of superhero endeavor. Unfortunately, despite those attempts as well as continued and committed performance from Hardy, the movie itself suffers from many of the same problems of the previous installments, including a lack of focus direction, a bland story, a flimsy script, clunky dialogue, questionable filmmaking decisions, an underutilized cast, and flat / forgettable characters. Personally, I didn’t care for this movie. I sort of knew that was probably going to be the case when I went into this movie, so I was massively disappointed with the end result. Still, this film is pretty mediocre at best, but more on the bad side of things, especially when considering they (writers) could’ve made a better film and learned from the mistakes of the previous two films. To me, it all just very lazy and lackadaisical, utilizing the main thread of Eddie / Venom by stringing along very bland and mundane series of events that didn’t go nowhere. Again, I liked Hardy in the movie, but everyone else (and everything else) felt way subpar and paper thin. I did like the movie slightly better than Let There be Carnage (some stuff the other movie did better), but I would still say that the first Venom movie, despite its faults, is probably my favorite…though that’s not saying much about this trilogy. Additionally, if this was to be the end of the story of Eddie Brock and Venom, then it ends on rather “meh” note, which is disappointing. Thus, my recommendation for this movie is hard “skip it” as it really doesn’t do much to propel the narrative forward that much and does little to change the standard formula of what came before in the Venom films, continuing on the ongoing trend of Sony’s misfired Spider-Man spin-off projects. While the story’s ending sort of gives a conclusion, there is room for a possible continuation or side story, but, unless the new project is better handled, I have very little interest in this particular prospect. Still, one can only hope for the best if such an avenue is explored further. In the end, Venom: The Last Dance is another bombastic blunder from Sony’s cinematic universe that, while amusing at times, ends more on a simmer than a bang.
2.6 Out of 5 (Skip It)
The Official Website for Venom: The Last Dance Link: HERE
Released On: October 25th, 2024
Reviewed On: January 10th, 2025
Venom: The Last Dance is 109 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, bloody images, and strong language
The post Venom: The Last Dance (2024) Review appeared first on Jason’s Movie Blog.
