VENOM: THE LAST DANCE

The Venom series to date has been something of a disappointment.

2018’s introduction to the character had a strong final act, leading many - myself included - to initially forget how messy and dull the opening hour had been, and it’s follow up Let There Be Carnage promised, well, carnage, and delivered a damp squib that played it safe at every possible opportunity.

Venom: The Last Dance is an uncomfortable mix of the two.

Its first two acts are messy, with unfocussed plotting and dialogue that feels unfinished - “He looks like a serial killer from my favourite murder podcast” - a classic example, but it really delivers in its closing act.

Meaning I left the cinema with a sense that I’d enjoyed that film as a whole. Which I hadn’t.

I spent much of the first hour willing it to be better. Willing it to make sense and willing it to have any kind of genuine excitement. But for the most part it felt flat. 

The moment from the trailer where Venom combines with a horse has the potential to be fun, but they do nothing interesting with it. Yes it’s fast, but that’s not enough. Something needs to happen, and it doesn’t.

They need to get from A to B, they combine with a horse at point A, they arrive at point B. Yes, something happens at point B, but something interesting needs to happen on that journey as well.

Up until it’s final act majority of the film feels like this.

And, as with its predecessor, it promises so much in its early moment - not least the possibility of Eddie (Tom Hardy) and Venom coming face to face with vengeful god Knull (Andy Serkis) - but never quite delivers on any of it.

I also derided Let There Be Carnage for wasting its talent, and in particular for wasting Steven Graham. Unfortunately, exactly the same happens here. 

To have an actor of his talent, and to give him absolutely nothing interesting to do over the course of two films, smacks of there being another story that the writers wanted to tell, before the studios got involved.

He is a potentially interesting character, one that could have been fleshed out, but he spent the majority of this film in a cell, with no interesting dialogue, and little motivation.

But there are moments. Moments of sweetness and of tenderness. Of Eddie and Venom longing for a life that neither has been able to live. And in these moments the film really comes to life. The inclusion of Rhys Ifans’ Martin - and alien believer bringing his family across country in the hope of spotting one - was great. The interactions that he and his family have with Eddie add a real heart to the film that was completely missing from what came before and I just wish that it had leaned a little more into that 

Tom Hardy is, as he has been throughout the trilogy, excellent. He is fully committed to the role in a way that the series doesn’t really deserve. 

And as I’ve said, the final act, is genuinely great. It looked excellent, the action was fun, and it had genuine stakes, something which so few superhero films do.

Which all just goes to make the film, and the series as a whole, such a disappointment. Because the building blocks are there. And across its three film run there have been flashes of an interesting character, and of an enjoyable film series. 

Theres just not enough of it. 

Not enough to inject life into Sony’s flailing Spider-Man Universe. Not enough - if the box office is anything to go by - to attract moviegoers to the cinema. And, if this is indeed Venoms last dance, not enough to warrant an encore.