When it comes to summing up a movie experience, sometimes the perfect phrase springs to mind effortlessly. And in the case of Venom: The Last Dance, the concluding chapter of the Venom trilogy, the sentiment is inescapable: this Last Dance Movie is an underwhelming and frankly messy end to a franchise that, against expectations, found its footing. There’s simply no saving grace for The Last Dance.
Let’s be upfront; these Venom films have never been critical darlings. Setting aside the inherent oddity of Sony crafting a cinematic universe around a Spider-Man character devoid of Spider-Man himself – a move seemingly motivated to retain character rights over at Marvel – the initial Venom in 2018 was passable, reminiscent of early 2000s comic book adaptations. However, the 2021 sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, plunged into the depths of wasted potential, riddled with baffling creative choices. Both previous installments, however flawed, benefited from Tom Hardy’s committed and wildly physical portrayal of both journalist Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote, Venom, bonded to him. In this last dance movie, The Last Dance, Hardy appears visibly drained, resulting in jokes that fall flat and the once-charming dynamic between Eddie and Venom now feels grating and childish.
Considering this is billed as the grand finale for this iteration of the character (at least until studio executives reconsider), the disappointment is palpable. Hardy’s apparent fatigue might stem from the film’s disjointed nature, as if multiple versions were filmed simultaneously. It’s been a while since a movie so blatantly screamed “we’ll fix it in post-production!” at the audience.
Writer-director Kelly Marcel, who also penned Let There Be Carnage and makes her directorial debut here, seems to cram the narrative scope of three movies into one. The editing feels abrupt, with plot threads and character arcs appearing and disappearing with jarring obviousness. Minor characters, previously relegated to the background, are thrust into pivotal roles in the finale, with Marcel struggling to make the audience care about their fates. Other characters are teased as significant, only to become inconsequential. And a mysterious, unnamed character is revealed in the credits to be a returning figure from the previous films who has undergone a dramatic, unexplained transformation – a detail completely absent from the film itself. The seams of this patched-together production are painfully visible.
Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom in Venom: The Last Dance, showcasing the tired performance in this last dance movie.
Plot Overload in this Last Dance Movie
The chaotic plot of this last dance movie kicks off immediately in the opening scene with the introduction of Knull, a dark god who created Venom’s symbiote race eons ago. The symbiotes imprisoned Knull on a distant, stormy planet but inadvertently retained within themselves the key to his release. This key was accidentally activated by Eddie/Venom in the previous film, and Knull now dispatches his Xenophage minions to retrieve it. This exposition dump is delivered directly to the audience by Knull himself, setting the tone for numerous awkwardly expository dialogues throughout the film. Prepare for military personnel and scientists, supposedly long-time colleagues, to randomly explain their entire job descriptions and backstories to each other.
For fans anticipating a grand cinematic portrayal of Knull, the “King in Black,” temper expectations significantly. Ignore any crossover rumors; this last dance movie keeps its scope surprisingly limited.
Returning to the military and scientific elements, we encounter Chiwetel Ejiofor as General Strickland, the bombastic military liaison for a covert division tasked with capturing Earth’s symbiotes. Juno Temple portrays Dr. Teddy Payne, a morally ambiguous scientist studying these alien entities. Both characters are vying for Venom’s capture, albeit for different purposes. 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 movie. Along their journey, they cross paths with Rhys Ifans’s Martin Moon, a hippie on a cross-country trek with his family to Area 51, pursuing his lifelong dream of witnessing an alien.
Rhys Ifans as Martin Moon in Venom: The Last Dance, a character lost in the chaotic plot of this last dance movie.
Pacing Problems and Missed Opportunities in the Finale
Adding to the film’s overwhelming nature, this last dance movie throws in half a dozen new symbiotes, bizarre dance sequences, a Venom-horse hybrid, and a slightly altered version of the post-credit scene from Spider-Man: No Way Home. It’s a lot, and Marcel’s erratic pacing exacerbates the issue. The film rushes through crucial plot points only to linger on an extended family sing-along scene set to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Ironically, this sequence, where Eddie reflects on the normalcy he’s sacrificed for his symbiote-ridden life, becomes the most emotionally resonant moment in the entire film. Similarly, the third act features a competently staged battle royale that might appease fans of recent Venom comics.
While fleeting moments of enjoyment occasionally punctuate The Last Dance, they merely underscore the film’s overall clumsiness. One doesn’t need to engage in excessive nitpicking to notice gaping plot holes and character inconsistencies. The cast, for the most part, delivers adequate performances, despite Hardy’s sometimes listless portrayal. However, they are hampered by weak material, or, in the case of Ifans’s character arc, seemingly misplaced in the wrong movie entirely. When Marcel attempts an emotionally charged moment, meant to encapsulate Eddie and Venom’s journey (set to the saccharine Maroon 5 track “Memories,” of all songs), it feels so artificial it veers into unintentional comedy. It was arguably the biggest laugh in the film’s 100-plus-minute runtime.
Initially, leaving the theater, there was a fleeting sense that Venom: The Last Dance might be marginally better than Let There Be Carnage, given the exceptionally low bar set by its predecessor. However, upon further reflection, it’s evident that this franchise finale is an even grander misstep. This sentiment is mirrored in the box office performance, with the film recording the lowest opening weekend in the trilogy by a significant margin. Coupled with the creative and commercial failures of Morbius and Madame Web, and the uninspiring prospects of the upcoming Kraven the Hunter, and the lack of other big-screen projects in development, this last dance movie might indeed signal the beginning of the end for Sony’s Spider-Man-less Spider-Man universe.
Venom: The Last Dance is currently showing in cinemas, having been released on October 25th.
| Venom: The Last Dance Review |
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| Against all odds, Venom: The Last Dance sadly claims the title of the weakest entry in Sony’s symbiote comic book trilogy. Tom Hardy’s uninspired performance and Kelly Marcel’s haphazard, patched-together direction fail to salvage this last dance movie. A few sparks of enjoyment are ultimately swallowed by the abyss, even with the introduction of the villain Knull. |
