In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance
The Last Dance is the appropriate subtitle for this film in my opinion. With the quality of this trilogy, it may be a mistake to continue on with this franchise. So, it’s great news that titular star Tom Hardy stated this would be his last time suiting up as the symbiotic character. If you want more of the same from the last two films, but more, then you’ll at least have fun this third time around. In this chapter, the film goes full throttle on the buddy adventure relationship between Eddie and Venom with jokes, goofiness, and silly banter that will last you until the next decade. However, that comedy style isn’t for most including myself. The number of jokes makes it difficult to take the majority of their scenes seriously. It’s just not funny, but that’s subjective. Even if the comedy did work, there are so many random events going on during this runtime, that you’ll leave the theater with a headache trying to make sense of it all.
In most of these comic book films events start out promising, but that’s not the case here. We’re introduced to a character by the name of Knull, but he ends up having no purpose in the film, other than taking up time. His origin, his story, his lore, and his character arc are all over the place and not adding up. Early on he introduces a McGuffin to the plot of the film called the Codex, but there’s never an explanation in the film to provide the importance of it, or how it works, or more importantly why it’s linked to Eddie/Venom. To make matters worse, he’s one of the only characters in the film that even knows of its existence. On top of that, he’s not the only wasted character in this film. Meet Dr. Payne (Juno Temple), whose back/side story serves even less of a purpose with no payoff as well. Random flashbacks occur of her upbringing, but end up literally going nowhere by the time the film concludes. The only redeeming character in this film is Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Unfortunately, he has some clunky weak exposition dialogue with Dr. Payne that isn’t realistic. They are conversing in ways that would never happen given their professions and current location in the film. On a positive side, he does take the events of this film seriously and even has a respectable emotional response when his team is in danger. The special forces team that he commands is another highlight of the film. They’re strapped with all the latest forms of advanced technology, and are very efficient with their work.
There is a ton of wasted screen time in this film which is only one hour and forty-nine minutes. It’s a huge sin that this is the end result of such a popular character. Another large chunk of the film is spent on some random family in the desert that Eddie/Venom runs into. You have a better chance of winning the lottery picking numbers blindfolded than coming up with a reason why this lovely family was present. At least they were nice, but It’s all still illogical. Ms. Chan from the previous films takes up runtime as well, and then again it all serves no purpose. So much time is wasted on her silly character dancing, and the scene will leave you there asking yourself what the point is.
Also, the main character in the movie is Venom, but you don’t get to see him much in his full suit. Now the film does provide a plot device of why this is, but It’s poorly written with plot holes in every direction. And about Venom, I’m just not a fan of his character and the relationship that he has with Eddie. He’s a character that doesn’t know the concept of there’s a time and place for everything. Sure, he can possibly get away with awful social skills in the first film, but during part 3 it’s rather annoying. The Venom character is supposed to be a frightening nightmare, yet he’s portrayed as your irritating cousin you have to engage with at the family reunion. There were too many instances in the film where the character was positioned to have a well-thought out balance cool superhero moment, but it was watered down by goofiness, and the, “We Are Venom,” line of dialogue. It’s a complete waste and butchering of the character.
When it comes to the story it starts in the middle instead of the beginning. There is so much alien exploration during this film on earth, but no guidance on how it commenced. There are at least six different symbiotes in this film, and the audience is expected to just accept it no questions asked. Are scientists really linking/merging human beings with alien life for longevity? Even the concept of these ideas crosses over to a completely different realm of morality but that’s never addressed. Probably one of the most important parts of the film that could’ve really dug in but the plot treats this as if these scientific studies are as simple as choosing what one would want to eat for lunch.
The movie isn’t entirely a mess with the third act of the film. There’s a huge action scene towards the end and there’s nothing held back from all sides. For the most part, at least someone can say that every character engaged in the fight gave one hundred percent. There were powers, bullets, explosions, and all sorts of abilities crashing onto the screen all at the same time. It was so much to process at once, but at least very entertaining. The sad part is you’re most likely clocked out of the movie by the time this happens.
It’s so sad when any franchise ends on a bad note and that’s the case with Venom: The Last Dance. This was put together in part by first-time director Kelly Marcel and it shows. She’s the director, but there’s no direction. Just events happening and the audience is left trying to piece together a pile of randomness. At the very least at minimum half of the movie contradicts itself. Creating rules of how things operate, only to abandon them a few moments later. These Spiderman-less movies with Sony need to stop, because the quality just isn’t there. These films seem desperate to just hold on to the IP to make money and not quality. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a film where so much was just thrown into a film hoping it would work but fails. This is a huge missed opportunity and a shame, but at least it’s all over.
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