REVIEW: Venom: The Last Dance Stumbles Through Its Final Number
Six years ago, Sony Pictures decided to capitalize on the superhero trend by expanding their own Marvel Universe with the release of Venom. Starring, Tom Hardy, the film would go on to defy odds by grossing over $846 million at the box office, and spawn a follow up in 2021, Venom: Carnage. Now, three years later, Sony is ready to close the book on the Venom franchise with one last film, Venom: The Last Dance.
Directed by Kelly Marcel, this third film in the franchise follows Venom and his lovely human host, Eddie Brock, once again played by Hardy, as he hides out in Mexico after finding out Eddie is wanted for murder. With the decision made that San Franscisco was no longer safe to return to, the pair set their sights on New York City. But, as with most movies, the pair’s buddy roadtrip gets stuck in America’s southwest, where they meet an eccentric, alien loving family, lead by Martin (Rhys Ifans), and, find themselves being hunted by not only alien creatures, known as Xenophages, but a covert government operation, headed by General Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor), as well. With the lives of both symbiotes, and humans on the line, Venom and Eddie must make the hard choice of stopping this evil before it sets its sights on Lady Liberty.
With this apparently being the last film in the Venom franchise, this film felt a bit sloppy and rushed. The previous two films were a mixed bag when it came to critics and audience reviews, but viewers could make heads or tails of the story. This film felt almost as though someone pulled the plug on the writing of the script mid-way through the process, read what had already been completed, and said, “This will have to do”, then gave the film the greenlight to begin filming. If just felt half done. A story that at moments felt meatier than its predecessors, especially during the one-on-one scenes between Eddie and Venom, would find itself completely halted in a middle of scene, with no cross guard to direct the story on which way to go to enhance the viewing journey. At the end of the day, it was messy.
It’s sad to know that there is a chance that viewers won’t get the chance to see Hardy take on this role again, rumors about an appearance in an upcoming Spider-Man film aside, Hardy has been a joy to watch in this role over the years, and it’s disappointing the material given to him in what is potentially his last outing. Ifans’s Martin is probably the most entertaining of the new characters to enter the fray, but Ifans’ has a way to take even the most mundane character and turn them into a standout. Ejiofor’s portrayal of Strickland is good, but given the talent of this actor, entirely underused. Juno Temple, who steps in as Doctor Payne, is another actor once again given a character with no real meaning, that at the end of the day does a disservice to the actor’s talents.
Venom: The Last Dance is not the final chapter most viewers would hope for from this six-year franchise. With the success of the first two, one would have hoped that the team behind the film would have put out all the stops for this final dance between the pair. However, after the credits rolled, it felt like the curtain was dropped in the middle of the climatic pairs life.
Grade: C-