Venom: The Last Dance review: a disappointing finale for Sony’s Spidey villain franchise

Venom: The Last Dance is simply a comic book movie successful request of a real, coming villain. The closest nan movie comes to that is Knull (Andy Serkis), a literal being of acheronian whose narration pinch nan very symbiotes he created is 1 fueled by bitterness and a universe-destroying desire for revenge. But Knull is hardly an progressive beingness successful Venom: The Last Dance — operating from afar for reasons that are made clear successful nan film’s clunky prologue and past repeated respective much times. For nan astir part, he is simply a faceless villain whose actions are carried retired by CGI monsters lacking moreover much of a characteristic than him.

The absence of a compelling threat wouldn’t beryllium an rumor if Venom: The Last Dance were conscionable a wacky buddy drama astir its 2 leads, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his symbiote companion. But nan movie still wants to adhere to nan rules of a accepted superhero movie, which intends writer-director Kelly Marcel is forced to travel up pinch progressively convoluted ways for action and conflict to unfold. Without a villain for illustration Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘s Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) astir to organically supply that, The Last Dance is successful move forced to walk much clip mounting things successful mobility and moving its characters astir for illustration pieces connected a chessboard than conscionable sitting backmost and having fun.

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Venom: The Last Dance picks up almost instantly aft nan events of its 2021 predecessor. It finds Eddie and his symbiote 2nd half still connected nan tally pursuing nan events of Let There Be Carnage. The duo decides to caput to New York and usage a judge Eddie knows from his journalist days to clear his name, but their travel from Mexico to nan Big Apple is interrupted by nan presence of a seemingly unkillable alien sent by Knull. The villain’s minion tracks nan brace crossed America and prevents them from slipping past nan watchful regard of Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a U.S. subject charismatic tasked pinch hunting down and capturing each remaining symbiote organism connected Earth.

Strickland’s ngo to seizure and incorporate Venom: The Last Dance‘s symbiotes becomes a root of clash betwixt him and Dr. Teddy Payne (Ted Lasso star Juno Temple), an alien-obsessed intelligence who would alternatively pass pinch nan aliens and return attraction of them than destruct them. Payne’s backstory is revealed successful a flashback that is laughably absurd and yet played wholly consecutive by some Temple and Marcel, while Ejiofor’s Strickland ne'er emerges arsenic thing much than a cardboard cutout of each archetypically stern subject charismatic successful movie history. These 2 characters aren’t absorbing capable for Venom: The Last Dance to dedicate arsenic overmuch clip to them arsenic it does.

Strickland and Payne are included solely to supply The Last Dance pinch some much opportunities for explosive group pieces and nan sci-fi backdrop for its extended climax. But thing that they bring to nan movie is arsenic worthwhile arsenic nan benignant of screwball, zany antics that Venom and Eddie get up to successful 2018’s Venom and Let There Be Carnage and yet are seldom fixed nan clip aliases abstraction to indulge successful much of this clip around. It is, however, still successful nan uncommon instances erstwhile The Last Dance is contented to simply fto Hardy person much manic, sweaty nosy onscreen arsenic nan progressively irritable erstwhile journalist that nan movie is astatine its lightest and astir enjoyable.

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The only 1 of nan film’s secondary subplots that makes moreover adjacent to a lasting belief is simply a run-in Eddie has pinch a vacationing family led by Martin Moon (Rhys Ifans), an extraterrestrial-obsessed hippie whose lifelong desire to sojourn Area 51 puts him unexpectedly successful nan paths of Eddie, Strickland, Payne, and Venom: The Last Dance‘s aliens. This thread useful partially because of Ifans, whose shaggy capacity helps inject The Last Dance pinch immoderate of nan aforesaid goofy power that made nan Venom franchise guidelines retired successful nan first place. More than anything, though, it is nan 1 subplot successful a movie that is earnestly lacking a beardown cardinal storyline that manages to supply accordant laughs and entertaining moments.

There is besides Hardy’s performance, which remains arsenic charmingly bizarre arsenic ever moreover successful a movie that often fails to admit him arsenic its top strength. Unfortunately, while Hardy himself seems conscionable arsenic in-on-the-joke arsenic he’s ever been, Venom: The Last Dance fails to onslaught nan correct equilibrium betwixt knowing absurdity and misplaced self-seriousness. The movie is weighed down by its evident finality and feels work bound to bring Eddie and Venom’s relationship to an extremity successful a measurement that honors it. The Last Dance, consequently, tries to pat into a strain of sentimentality that feels retired of spot and unearned successful a franchise for illustration this, which has mined a not-insignificant magnitude of its drama from nan immaturity of its cardinal alien and his hunger for quality heads.

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What you get astatine nan extremity of each of these mistakes is simply a 3rd Venom movie that feels excessively chaotic, convoluted, and paper-thin moreover by its franchise’s standards. The Venom movies person ne'er been — successful nan accepted consciousness of nan building — “good,” but they person been a batch of nosy successful nan past. The worst point you tin opportunity astir Venom: The Last Dance is that it is nan slightest nosy of its franchise’s installments. It is much obsessed pinch its crippled than its characters, and truthful it sends nan superhero genre’s oddest overseas mates retired connected a statement that is acold excessively mawkish and straightforward than they — successful each of their comical ridiculousness — deserve.

Venom: The Last Dance is now playing successful theaters.