When it comes to wrapping up a movie franchise, you hope for a grand, memorable conclusion. Sadly, for the Venom series, the final chapter, Venom: The Last Dance, feels less like a dance and more like a stumble. It’s an embarrassingly chaotic culmination for this once-promising franchise, leaving little to be desired and proving that even the most enthusiastic efforts can’t salvage a movie that feels fundamentally broken.
From the outset, it’s important to acknowledge that the Venom movies have always been a somewhat peculiar endeavor. Crafting a film around a prominent Spider-Man character, yet deliberately excluding Spider-Man himself, was always a curious creative choice by Sony Pictures. While the initial Venom film in 2018 had a certain nostalgic charm reminiscent of early 2000s comic book movies, its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, descended into a frustrating display of squandered potential and questionable artistic decisions. What somewhat redeemed those earlier films was Tom Hardy’s committed, often eccentric portrayal of both journalist Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote. However, in The Last Dance, Hardy appears noticeably weary, resulting in jokes that fall flat and the once-endearing odd-couple dynamic between Eddie and Venom now feeling tiresome and childish.
Considering this is intended to be the definitive on-screen farewell for this iteration of Venom – at least until studio executives reconsider – the overall experience is profoundly disappointing. Hardy’s apparent fatigue might stem from the film’s disjointed nature, as if multiple versions were filmed simultaneously and haphazardly pieced together. The editing is jarring, making it painfully obvious that significant portions were likely “fixed in post-production.”
Writer-director Kelly Marcel, who also penned Let There Be Carnage and makes her directorial debut here, seems to have crammed an excessive amount of plot into a single film. Aspects are abruptly introduced and removed, creating a sense of narrative whiplash. Minor characters with minimal prior presence are thrust into pivotal roles in the finale, yet Marcel struggles to make the audience invested in their outcomes. Other characters are hinted at greater importance, only to become insignificant background figures. A particularly baffling instance is an unnamed character revealed in the credits to be a returning figure from previous films, inexplicably undergoing a major transformation that’s completely unaddressed in The Last Dance. The film feels patched together, with its structural flaws glaringly apparent.
Venom The Last Dance Movie Still featuring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom symbiote
The convoluted plot begins in the opening scene with the introduction of Knull, an ancient dark god who birthed the symbiote race, including Venom. These symbiotes imprisoned Knull on a remote, stormy planet but inadvertently carried within them the key to his release. This key was unknowingly activated by Eddie and Venom during the previous movie’s events. Knull now dispatches his Xenophage minions to reclaim this key. This exposition is delivered through clunky dialogue, with Knull directly addressing the audience in the first of many awkward exposition dumps throughout the movie. Even scenes featuring military personnel and scientists, supposedly long-time colleagues, devolve into unnatural explanations of their jobs and backgrounds to each other.
For fans anticipating a grand portrayal of Knull, the “King in Black,” prepare for disappointment. Forget any crossover rumors; Knull’s presence is underwhelming and serves primarily as a plot device rather than a compelling villain.
The military and scientific elements are represented by Chiwetel Ejiofor as General Strickland, a bombastic military liaison overseeing a secret division dedicated to capturing symbiotes on Earth, and Juno Temple as Dr. Teddy Payne, a morally ambiguous scientist studying these alien entities. Both characters are vying to capture Venom for their own agendas. Meanwhile, Eddie and Venom are on a road trip from Mexico to New York, fugitives attempting to clear Eddie’s name after being wrongly implicated in the death of a police detective infected by Carnage in the previous film. Their journey intersects with Rhys Ifans’s Martin Moon, a hippie traveling to Area 51 with his family, driven by a lifelong fascination with extraterrestrial life.
Venom The Last Dance Movie Still featuring Venom on a horse
Adding to the film’s chaotic nature are numerous new symbiotes, bizarre dance sequences, a Venom-controlled horse, a modified version of the Spider-Man: No Way Home post-credit scene, and much more. It’s an overload of content, and Marcel’s pacing only exacerbates the problem. The film rushes through crucial plot points only to linger on extended, unnecessary scenes, such as a family sing-along to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Ironically, this musical interlude becomes the most emotionally resonant moment, as Eddie reflects on the ordinary life he has sacrificed for his symbiotic existence. Similarly, the third act features a competently executed battle sequence that might please fans of recent Venom comics, offering a fleeting glimpse of what the film could have been.
These scattered enjoyable moments are mere sparks in an otherwise ungainly film. One doesn’t need excessive nitpicking to notice the gaping plot holes and inconsistencies. While the cast, even a seemingly tired Hardy, isn’t inherently bad, they are let down by the weak material. Rhys Ifans, in particular, seems lost in a narrative that doesn’t serve his character effectively. When the film attempts an emotionally charged, cathartic moment, summarizing Eddie and Venom’s journey to the tune of Maroon 5’s saccharine “Memories,” it feels so artificial it becomes unintentionally humorous. It’s perhaps the most genuine laugh the film provides in its 100-plus-minute runtime.
Venom The Last Dance Movie Still featuring Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor
Initially, leaving the theater, there was a faint hope that Venom: The Last Dance might be marginally better than Let There Be Carnage, a film that set a remarkably low bar. However, upon reflection, it becomes evident that this grand finale is an even grander misstep. This critical failure is mirrored in its box office performance, marking the lowest opening in the trilogy by a significant margin. Coupled with the creative and commercial disappointments of Morbius and Madame Web, and the uninspiring anticipation for Kraven the Hunter, this could signal the beginning of the end for Sony’s struggling Spider-Man-less Spider-Man universe.
Venom: The Last Dance is currently showing in cinemas, having premiered on October 25th.
| Venom: The Last Dance Review |
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| Against all expectations, Venom: The Last Dance emerges as the weakest link in Sony’s symbiotic comic book trilogy. Tom Hardy’s lackluster performance and Kelly Marcel’s disjointed, patched-together direction condemn this film to the cinematic abyss. Fleeting moments of enjoyment cannot redeem this chaotic mess, even with the introduction of the notorious villain Knull. |
