Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!
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Venom: The Last Dance

Venom: The Last Dance




Rated PG-13 - for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images and strong language.
Director: Kelly Marcel
Starring: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Stephen Graham, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu
Running Time: 1 hour, 49 minutes
Theatrical Release Date: October 25, 2024

READER RATING:   


Plot Summary

Eddie and Venom, on the run, face pursuit from both worlds. As circumstances tighten, they're compelled to make a heart-wrenching choice that could mark the end of their symbiotic partnership. (from IMDB)


Film Review

In 2018, Tom Hardy helped Sony bring the famous Spider-Man villain, Venom, to the big screen for his own movie. The character debuted in the movies in 2007 when Topher Grace played him in the Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man trilogy. While Grace's take didn't exactly bring with it the bite you'd expect from the menacing long-tongued, sharp-toothed monster, his reinvention in 2018 was an attempt to make the villain a likeable anti-hero. When the alien symbiote took over the body of reporter Eddie Brock, there wasn't a heroic webbed-wonder for him to face. Instead, a greater, more evil villain was the force for the creature to war against, and this again became the template for the series' first sequel, 2021's Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The sequel, directed by Andy Serkis, was considerably darker with its central villain being a serial killer played by Woody Harrelson, but in an attempt to balance that out a bit, the humor was amplified as well. Enter Venom: The Last Dance, 2024's third and final entry in Tom Hardy's own Venom trilogy. With Eddie Brock basically on the run from authorities, where does the story go from here?

Venom: The Last Dance
The 2018 movie was directed by Ruben Fleischer, the sequel by Serkis, and now the franchise is handed off to first-time director Kelly Marcel, who actually served as co-writer on all three films. From the start, Venom: The Last Dance feels rather disconnected from its predecessors. It opens in space, sharing the origin story of the symbiotes and introduces the "god" of the symbiotes, Knull, who sits imprisoned on his throne. He sends several of his minions, called Xenophages, to earth in search of a "codex" that some symbiotes might carry, and it's the only thing that can free him. The intro feels a little convoluted for this "Venom-verse," which takes us to another world for the first time in this series. We then find Eddie back in the bar we found him in during the end credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home, before he's warped back to his own universe. The ending of Carnage teased Venom going out to find Spider-Man, but that idea seems to have been entirely nixed. Furthermore, the No Way Home scene shows a smidge of Venom being dropped and left in Tom Holland's Spider-Man's universe. In this film, it seems to have been retconned, and the "drop of Venom" gets left on the bar top in his own universe. As we see Eddie and Venom start a long trek eastbound, we flip back-and-forth between subplots introducing new characters (and sort of lightly involving a familiar character or two). Let's be honest, the audience is filling the seats for Eddie and Venom, so for the movie to spend such a strangely drawn-out amount of time on subplots involving characters most of us could care less about seems really odd. But that's exactly what happens in this movie. First, we're introduced to Juno Temple's eccentric scientist character, Dr. Teddy Paine, who just so happens to be dreaming her backstory at the very moment we meet her. It doesn't add a ton to her character, and we find ourselves following her around, wondering why this character should matter to us. We're then introduced us to Chiwetel Ejiofor as a government agent of sorts named Strickland, and we soon learn there's a secret underground facility that's currently studying symbiotes. We eventually flashback to Eddie who has a run-in with a hippy family - led by Rhys Ifans playing the father of four, Martin - who just want to make it to Area 51 for a chance to catch a glimpse of aliens. Again, way too much screentime is given to these characters (actually, imagine any number of annoying human characters from the live action Transformers movies and you'll catch my drift), and it takes away from the film's main focus.

My biggest beef with the film has a lot to do with its erratic pacing. Scenes with Venom and Eddie seem to be rushed, while scenes introducing Dr. Paine, Stickland and their fellow scientists move at a crawl (I mean, almost literally. There are awkward moments when you're wondering why on earth a the camera is still following a character around as they do nothing). It's like Marcel was making two entirely different movies here and just stitched them together like Frankenstein's monster. There are also a couple scenes, like Eddie's van ride with the hippies, that swing for the fences in an attempt at deeper, more serious moments, but they don't feel earned, necessarily. As the family breaks out into a folksy singalong of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," which is only saved by Venom's strange enthusiasm for the song, Eddie sits there bummed out and wishing he could have a family of his own. Throughout the trilogy, it's mainly been Eddie wishing to be back with his ex-fiance Anne, who he tries on a couple occasions to get back together with. But here, at the end, not only is her name not even mentioned once (not even in an epiphany of closure for Eddie), but he's suddenly exhibiting a desire to be a father? It's a pretty strange turn for the character. A final film in a trilogy should really be tying up loose ends and bringing threads established in the first film to a close. If I didn't know that Marcel and Hardy had been involved in the stories for each film, I'd swear someone completely outside this franchise had decided to take on the last entry without much insight into the existing overarching story.

Venom: The Last Dance
I could go on, to be honest, but the movie isn't all that bad. Yes, I can see it being one of those movies I'd rewatch and enjoy chunks of while being downright frustrated with other parts, but there is juuuusstt enough here of what made the first two movies enjoyable to warrant tuning in for the finale. The film's last act, while it arguably ignores something very crucial about symbiotes and their compatibility with hosts, delivers on symbiote-driven action that is mostly lacking for much of the movie that precedes it. Hardy eases back into the sandles of Eddie Brock - and Venom - pretty nicely for this last outing, and its their scenes together that make the movie worth any kind of attention. (However, I'd argue that if you haven't seen the first two movies, or did and didn't enjoy them, you'll want to steer clear of this one as well.) Many moviegoers acknowledge that franchises tend to weaken with each additional sequel, and sadly, like a few other Sony properties (Ghostbusters and The Amazing Spider-Man quickly come to mind), Venom falls prey to this as well.

Venom: The Last Dance
The content for these movies have, at times, been relatively "hard PG-13," and Venom: The Last Dance follows suit, but with a different tone. The first Venom had a darkness to it with the symbiote/host tests often going awry in gruesome ways. It had some horror elements that reminded me a tad of World War Z (and Ludwig Göransson's creepy score added to this). In Let There Be Carnage, the film was arguably even darker given its focus on Carnage being born from a sadistic serial killer -- the very nature of the villain alone is quite dark. For The Last Dance, we venture more so into sci-fi territory than specifically horror. The monsters - or Xenophages - that Knull sends to earth look like a cross between the beasts from The Tomorrow War and the ones from Edge of Tomorrow (sans the dread-like tendrils of the latter). There is plenty of creature violence and even some creature gore, but it feels less gritty than the previous entries. Still, an early scene shows Venom clear-as-day biting the heads off of four bad guys in succession, with a little bit of bloody results spraying out. A terminal human is saved by being infected with a symbiote, but his possession is shown in a pretty creepy way (as the symbiote communicates through him). Knull's minions frequently get blown apart or dismembered, but then the camera returns to the carcasses to see the aliens pull themselves together almost as if the violence is being undone by the Time Stone in reverse. There are also a couple scenes where these creatures consume a human in one bite and a mist of blood sprays out the back of the creature as if the person was quickly ground to a pulp inside. Other notable moments of violence include a person being impaled at a distance, a flashback to Eddie having been impaled in the first movie, and a brief glimpse at a nasty wound on a human's side shown in dim lighting. Otherwise, a hefty battle makes up the grand finale involving mostly alien and creature violence, with some human casualties not shown too explicitly. Profanity includes a pretty prominent "mother f---" from Rhys Ifans' character, as well as about 15 uses of the "S" word, and quite a few other colorful words and phrases, including a few uses of blasphemy (like Jesus' name).

I was definitely concerned about how Venom: The Last Dance might be after seeing the first trailer for it. Sadly, it isn't better than the trailer let on, and the movie ends up being the lackluster finale to what otherwise was a pretty decent and entertaining series. The Last Dance might not be the grand finale fans hoped for, but it's also not the worst. Fans should lower their expectations considerably, and might then find The Last Dance to be more of a slow dance to the finish line, and not the spastic "little kicks" of Elaine Benes that it otherwise feels like.

By the way, there is a mid-credits scene that teases more possibly coming involving Knull (but it's really vague). There is also a very short post-credits scene that reveals the fate of a very random, very minor side character, and very ambiguously teases a possible return of another character.

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 10/26/24)

 

 

Parental Guide: Content Summary


. Sex/Nudity: Eddie and Venom gawk in surprise at how good Mrs. Chen looks in a fancy dress.
. Vulgarity/Language: 1 "F" word (with "mother"), 1 "effing" (said like that), 15 "S" words, 2 "J-sus," 1 "J-sus Chr-st," 1 "g*dd*mn," 2 "Oh my G-d," 1 "Oh G-d," 6 "h*ll," 1 "d*mn," 3 "a" words, 2 "*ssh*le," 2 "b*tch"
. Alcohol/Drugs: When we're reintroduced to Eddie and Venom, Venom declares "we are drunk!" while in a bar. Venom makes Eddie hop behind a bar and mix some drinks; We see others drinking in a bar; We see people having drinks in a casino.
. Blood/Gore: A thug puts a knife to Eddie's cheek and slowly cuts his cheek, drawing blood; Venom bites the heads off of four bad guys in succession, with some blood squirting out; We see a flashback to the first movie where Eddie is impaled on a large blade from the symbiote, Riot, and we see blood on his shirt as he dies; When Knull's Xenophages eat humans on a couple occasions, we see blood-red mist spray from their backs as they consume the men; In a couple scenes, we see Xenophages break apart into pieces, and we then see them pull themselves back together; A man shoots a masked person who is trying to shoot them as they struggle with each other underwater. He then pulls of their mask to see the victim's face as they drift away and blood drifts into the water. The man is then horrified and remorseful about what just happened; A person uses a rocket launcher and fires on one of the creatures, severing its head from its body. We then see the head lying on the ground with its eye still moving; We see some cuts on Eddie's forehead and cheek later in the movie; A man is impaled by a tendril from a monster and we see him hanging by the impaling in the air. Later, when he is freed, he has his hand over the bloody spot on his clothing where he was hurt; A man is shot suddenly and we see the bloody bullet hole on their shirt. A symbiote takes over and the bullet falls to the ground with blood around it; We see a person sitting in a dimly lit area with their shirt torn where a large gash is in their side. It's semi-focused on two times, but isn't extremely graphic; Some creatures are doused with acid and we see it burning their flesh as they scream.
. Violence: The prologue shows Knull with his beasts and the symbiotes as we're told via voiceover about the war between them and Knull's imprisonment; Venom forces Eddie to make a drink behind a bar and makes a big mess, breaking glasses and such; Eddie enters a warehouse upon hearing someone scream and find a lot of animals in cages. Four thugs show up and threaten Eddie, who warns them to just leave. One puts a knife to Eddie's cheek and slowly cuts down his cheek, drawing blood. Venom then takes over and beats up the men and frees the animals. After the fight, Venom bites the heads off of all four men in succession, with some bloody results; We see a flashback of two kids fleeing a thunderstorm while holding hands. They're struck by lightning, throwing them both to the ground. The girl survives, with some burns on her skin, but her brother dies instantly; As Eddie and Venom hitch a ride on the outside of an airplane, a Xenophages attacks them, causing them all to fall from the plane. The Xenophage crashes to the ground in pieces, but pulls itself back together and is fine; A Xenophage attacks Eddie and Venom at the same time government agents corner them. The pair flee as some soldiers are eaten by the Xenophage, and the soldiers try to capture Venom; A man shoots a masked person who is trying to shoot them as they struggle with each other underwater. He then pulls of their mask to see the victim's face as they drift away and blood drifts into the water. The man is then horrified and remorseful about what just happened; Eddie knocks out a man in Vegas and steals his suit; Venom makes Eddie spastically play the slot machine. He also then smashes the machine; A Xenophage breaks through a skylight in an effort to snag Venom, but leaves. The soldiers then find them and capture them; A previously dead man is shown in a mindless daze when he is inhabited by a symbiote; A man is shot suddenly and we see the bloody bullet hole on their shirt. A symbiote takes over and the bullet falls to the ground with blood around it; Some Xenophages are hit with missiles and explode, but pull themselves back together and are fine; SPOILERS AHEAD: All of the symbiotes are released and take hosts from nearby scientists. All the symbiotes then fight the Xenophages, with some of them being eaten completely by the Xenophages (including the human host); We see a human and its symbiote both fall to the ground dead at one point; A person breaks a vial and merges with a symbiote in order to join the fight; Some creatures are doused with acid and we see it burning their flesh as they scream; A large explosion destroys buildings, a person, and possibly kills other creatures; And more sci-fi action violence.

 

Disclaimer: All reviews are based solely on the opinions of the reviewer. Most reviews are rated on how the reviewer enjoyed the film overall, not exclusively on content. However, if the content really affects the reviewer's opinion and experience of the film, it will definitely affect the reviewer's overall rating.

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