I love Venom. Yeah not the most eloquent of review openers, but the past couple of Venom films have been a blast for me. They are examples of movies that, while not being artistically or thematically complex, do exactly what they need to do. And what do they need to do exactly? Be an excuse to have Venom, the character, reap chaos on screen while I watch and laugh. Call me a child, but still love chaotic neutral, animated aliens, and the fact he once started as a deadly Spider-Man villain at least legitimizes me as an adult nerd for loving him. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and Venom: The Last Dance is set to complete the symbiote’s story—at least in this continuity. But is it a good conclusion? Or does it leave us Venom fans wishing for more?
The movie begins with the titular symbiote and his human host Eddy Brock (Tom Hardy) still on the run from the law hiding in Mexico, while also inexplicably phasing in and out of their continuity (the poor things seem to be victims of the MCU’s love of universe hopping.) As if they didn’t have enough to deal with, they suddenly get attached by a large, aggressive alien hunter known as a “Xenophage”, who is hellbent on targeting Venom in his full symbiote form. It turns out that Venom holds the “Codex”, the key to releasing his evil creator Knull (Andy Serkis) from his prison. Now Venom and Eddy must find a way to stop Venom from being captured by his assailants, as all life in the universe could be at stake. Believe me, it makes more sense if you watch it (and turn off your brain a little bit.)
Ok, I’ll say this movie has a lot of good stuff going for it. It was just as funny and entertaining as the previous two films without giving into the temptation of completely copycatting Deadpool’s humor formula. Yes, I’m aware both franchises rely on ridiculous, pop-culture heavy, and slapstick humor, but I find the charm of Venom lies in his pure childlike enjoyment of every new experience.
Pace-wise, the action stayed at a pretty steady rate, and I didn’t feel like there were any major lulls that slowed down the film at any point, though there were a few comedic sequences that may run a bit long for those that want the plot to move forward faster. On that note, I can’t say if it’s the funniest Venom film, but it was definitely the most over the top silly.
This is where I think there could be some flaws, at least, if one were to view The Last Dance from a comic book loving nerd who is trying to see a movie adaptation of their favorite comic plot points. The film introduces Knull, the creator of the symbiotes,
capable of destroying entire worlds, and quite possibly a major villain that will be carried over into other future Marvel films. Yet despite this, The Last Dance decided to remain consistent with the mostly silly tone that the previous two films established, potentially lessening the impact of this conflict. I’m not saying it did it in a way that was so jarring it ruined the film for me *cough Thor Ragnarok cough*, but I couldn’t help but to wish for just a bit more balance between the comedy and the plot. Like every other film in this series, it also suffers from what I call stupid-character-itis in which so many characters make inexplicably dumbass decisions, if only to complicate the plot further. For the most part I laugh at it when it happens in these films, as it seems to be more believable than most.
