Tom Hardy has proven to be the perfect choice to play both Eddie Brock and the anti hero all have come to love in Venom. He has brought the character along leaps and bounds since being introduced on film in Spiderman 3 and given proven he has the staying power to pave his own way in the comic book to movie space.
Venom: The Last Dance is the third entry and supposed last into the current Venom Trilogy and is being touted as one of the best in recent times. Let’s dive in and have a spoiler free look.
A quick prologue provides our set up for this entry’s evil; we meet a bound and tortured ghoul looking creature known as Knull (Andy Serkis) a self proclaimed God of the Void. Knull is seething after his creations the symbiotes betrayed him and imprisoned him in a dark, specifically made prison. Knulls only respite is to send the massive spiders from hell called Xenophages off into the cosmos to find a codex that is the key to his freedom. No prizes for guessing who holds the codex.
Venom: The Last Dance takes place a couple of weeks after the events that capped off Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Eddie and Venom have had to flee to Mexico until the issues of that night in San Francisco calm down. Eddie has been implicated in the apparent death of Detective Mulligan (Stephen Graham) and is now a wanted man. They decide to head to New York as Eddie has an old acquaintance there he thinks he can black mail to clear his name. Unfortunately on the way a Xenophage tracks the duo down, attacking them on route and leaving them just outside a decommissioned area 51.
From here the movie both kicks into gear and loses a little of its focus muddying the way as it tries to push the story forward. Eddie and Venom are chased by Army Special Forces members led by Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who we find has been capturing and studying symbiotes with the help of scientist Dr Payne (Juno Temple). It is Strickland’s mindset that the symbiotes are a problem that must be destroyed and once he finds out about Knull he pushes forward to make sure Venom and Eddie don’t make it out alive.
The Last Dance goes full on buddy movie as Eddie and his symbiote Venom are more at one with each other than in the first two movies. They work in unison now more than ever and it is seen early on as Eddie does most of the talking with Venom only coming out as needed. Venom though gets all the best lines. If you’ve ever had a slightly unhinged mate that has no filter this is Venom, his snide remarks are brilliantly delivered and brought a raucous laughter from the cinema on more than one occasion. On occasion the humour is pushed a little too hard resulting in moments that feel like they were forced including a whole moment segment in Vegas that someone surely put in as a dare.
Unfortunately for all the fun and growth that Venom has embodied over the course of the trilogy The Last Dance suffers from a very rudimentary end of the world story featuring a flash in the pan finale that deserved much more depth and build up. Time constraints may have been an issue and the M rating locally (PG-13 everywhere else) constrained the symbiotes somewhat.
That being said, Venom: The Last Dance is a fun ride. It does a good job at bringing new characters into the Venom / Spiderman universe and sets us up for the next chapter. This is the final chapter in this trilogy and it all leads to a cathartic release sure to keep fans of the last two movies and characters happy. Eddie and Venom have grown in their time together and through cheesy moments show just how comfortable they are with each other.
I left the cinema feeling a little indifferent and after some time with my thoughts gained no further perspective. Venom: The Last Dance is your average comic book story and is out to entertain you for some 90 minutes and it does exactly that.
Venom: The Last Dance is in cinemas now.
