“We are Venom!” – Venom
Sequels, they’re a gamble. Sometimes they elevate the original, becoming legendary in their own right. Think The Empire Strikes Back or Terminator 2. Then there are the sequels that nobody asked for, diluting the brand and leaving audiences scratching their heads. And then, there’s the Venom franchise.
The first Venom movie felt like a studio obligation, a way for Sony to capitalize on a Marvel character they controlled, regardless of whether there was a compelling story to tell. Venom: Let There Be Carnage doubled down on the chaotic energy, but arguably not the quality. And now we have Venom: The Last Dance. Does this third installment finally find its rhythm, or is it just another stumble in a series struggling to find its footing?
It’s with a sense of weary resignation that I approached Venom: The Last Dance. Having been less than impressed with the previous outings, my expectations were subterranean. However, whispers from a fellow critic who actually didn’t despise this movie offered a sliver of hope. Could Venom: The Last Dance be the unexpected dark horse of superhero cinema? Sadly, that hope was quickly extinguished.
Perhaps my pre-existing Venom-fatigue clouded my judgment, but The Last Dance feels like a franchise running on fumes. While franchises like Puss in Boots can surprise audiences with a late-game masterpiece (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish being a prime example), Venom seems determined to beat a dead horse, not just once, but for a trilogy.
Tom Hardy, a genuinely talented and charismatic actor, feels utterly wasted here. Known for his intense, gritty roles, Hardy’s portrayal of Eddie Brock/Venom oscillates between cartoonish and tiresome. The humor, largely reliant on Venom’s potty mouth and childish antics, feels stale and repetitive. The “shit” jokes, which might have elicited a chuckle in the first film, have become a tired crutch.
Being a Marvel-adjacent movie (thanks to Sony’s hold on the character), Venom: The Last Dance is obligated to deliver action. However, the action sequences feel perfunctory and uninspired. They lack any sense of originality or excitement, ticking boxes rather than organically arising from the narrative. Explosions and CGI mayhem are present, but devoid of impact. It’s action for action’s sake, feeling manufactured and obligatory.
One particularly egregious scene involves Venom and Eddie battling an alien foe on the exterior of a commercial airliner at 30,000 feet. After dispatching the alien by shoving it into an engine (health and safety clearly not a concern for symbiotes), they simply… leave. They abandon the damaged plane and its hundreds of passengers mid-flight, with a casual disregard for the ensuing chaos. This exemplifies the film’s overall lack of internal logic and stakes.
In the pantheon of Sony’s Marvel movies, Venom: The Last Dance is marginally better than the disastrous Madame Web. But setting the bar at Madame Web is hardly a triumph. With Kraven the Hunter looming on the horizon, the future of Sony’s Marvel universe looks increasingly bleak. Venom 3 settles firmly into mediocrity, failing to learn from the missteps of its predecessors and offering nothing new or exciting.
The pacing of Venom: The Last Dance is also jarringly uneven. The film ambles aimlessly for the majority of its runtime, only to abruptly rush into a chaotic and unsatisfying climax. The ending feels abrupt and unearned, leaving the audience wondering if they missed something. Despite its mercifully short runtime, the film feels both rushed and overlong, a bizarre combination.
Just like the original Venom, the villains in The Last Dance are paper-thin and forgettable. We’re presented with generic antagonists motivated by world domination, a trope as old as superhero movies themselves. While Let There Be Carnage offered a slightly more compelling villain in Carnage, The Last Dance regresses to formulaic villainy. It feels like a rehash of tired superhero movie clichés, echoing the “minions before the big boss” trope seen in early Avengers movies, but without any of the build-up or payoff.
Ultimately, Venom: The Last Dance‘s greatest sin is its utter lack of memorability. The plot is a blur, the action is generic, and the emotional core, meant to be the Eddie/Venom relationship, feels perfunctory and unearned. Any attempts at pathos or dramatic depth are half-hearted and fall flat. The movie simply goes through the motions, hitting predictable beats without any genuine heart or conviction.
I genuinely wanted to care, to find something to latch onto, but Venom: The Last Dance offers nothing to grab onto. It’s a film that doesn’t seem to care if you care, content to exist as a piece of forgettable superhero movie filler. If you enjoyed the previous Venom films, you might find something to appreciate here, but for most viewers, Venom: The Last Dance will likely be a cinematic shrug, a film that evaporates from memory the moment the credits roll. It’s the cinematic definition of “meh.”
Rated PG-13 For: intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images and strong language
Runtime: 109 minutes
After Credits Scene: Yes. It’s nothing important but yes.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Comedy
Starring: Tom Hardy, Juno Temple, Stephen Graham, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Directed By: Kelly Marcel
Out of 10
Story: 5 / Acting: 6 / Directing: 6 / Visuals: 5.5
OVERALL: 5/10
Buy to Own: No.
Check out the trailer below:
