Review of the movie Venom: The Last Dance. A confusing but heartfelt movie – just like the previous ones

Venom is one of the most popular characters in Marvel comics, who over the years has changed his status from a villain to something like an anti-hero or even more ambiguous. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before a movie about him appeared. Venom (2018), starring Tom Hardy, was far from perfect, but the audience loved it. That’s why it spawned a whole trilogy.

Venom: The Last Dance is the finale of the adventures of Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote. And if you’ve seen the first two parts, you already have a rough idea of how the third one turned out. As a work of cinematic art, the film is unlikely to be discussed in good terms, but for some reason you still want to watch it to the end. Even despite all the disappointments.

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), after meeting and defeating Carnage in the last movie, goes on the run. The police accuse him of the brutal murder of Detective Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham). However, the strange human-alien tandem has an even bigger problem. The powerful creature Knull is preparing to invade Earth to destroy absolutely everything. And the key to his release is inside Venom.

Let us tell you right away: “Venom: The Last Dance” is a complete farce in terms of plot, direction, overall production, and other things that film critics love to discuss. The first two installments were no masterpieces either, but at least they boasted a clear focus. The first Venom told the classic story of the character’s formation, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage lured with the image of Carnage, who was frightening even against the background of the far from innocent Venom. Venom: The Last Dance can’t offer anything like that.

The very first scene with Eddie Brock reveals a lot about the film’s essence. Marvel fans will remember that thanks to the events of the movie Spider-Man: No Way Home, Venom entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It would seem that Marvel Studios and Sony are preparing the ground for the battle between Venom and Spider-Man that millions of viewers want to see on the big screen. However, in Venom: The Last Dance, Brock almost instantly returns to his own universe. Venom doesn’t forget to joke that the concept of a multiverse is something completely ridiculous.

And this is how the whole movie turned out. Something is constantly happening in it, and Eddie and Venom don’t forget to comment on it, and from time to time they do so successfully, but the meaning of each event is close to zero. In addition, the scenes are poorly connected to each other. Sometimes it is not even clear what exactly is happening on the screen. Is it bad editing, an ill-conceived script, or both? The answer is the third option.

Moreover, in the first third of the movie, it still seems as if the authors have a clear intention to create a road movie about Venom, and to amuse the audience with extremely crazy transformations. Symbiote-fish, symbiote-frog, symbiote-horse(hello, Nimona, ed.) are wild images, but in the context of a rather ridiculous story, they make us follow the story with a more interested eye. Who knows what else the authors have in store for us?

Unfortunately, it’s nothing special. The adventures of Eddie and Venom are hardly filled with interesting moments. At the same time, the second storyline about the military and scientists studying symbiotes is being actively promoted to the audience. In terms of overall quality, it looks like it came from a cheap 90s action movie, but still manages to lose to them in everything. The characters’ stereotypical characters, stupid phrases and boring direction do not allow you to enjoy it. Even the color correction for some reason causes disgust, and you have to “try” to achieve this effect.

The central antagonists turn out to be a flop. For most of the story, Venom confronts a faceless monster that stubbornly refuses to die. We won’t argue, the battles with him turned out to be quite vivid, although the immortal status of the creature begins to bore towards the end. But there’s no conflict of ideologies or interesting contrasts to speak of. The final battle also turns out to be something completely different from what you expect at the beginning.

Yes, the script tries to reveal the concept of symbiotes from a new angle, but against the backdrop of the blandness of the overall story, it’s impossible to get excited about any interesting plot ideas. And Venom: The Last Dance doesn’t try to back them up with anything meaningful, but simply rushes forward without a plan, a goal, or much motivation.

What’s so good about the movie, then? Strangely enough, it’s the relationship between Eddie and Venom again. For three movies, it’s physically impossible not to get attached to this strange but charismatic duo. Venom doesn’t seem so scary anymore, and Brock looks lost and perpetually hungover-sometimes literally. Strange initial data, but it’s what turns the movie into something worth watching, a couple of really sincere people. Because everything else, even the potentially good ones, turned out to be flawed.

The battles are vivid and with an unusual presentation of symbiotes, but boring enemies do not allow you to enjoy the action. The road adventure elements do not include interesting locations and events. And for some reason, Eddie is always barefoot in the movie, which the filmmakers specifically point out. Perhaps it’s some kind of metaphor, but it’s not readable at all.

Однак Venom: The Last Dance – це історія, яка точно не принципово гірша за попередні. Вона знаходиться десь на тому ж рівні. І висока ймовірність, що цього буде досить, щоб окупити бюджет та дати глядачам гідну нагоду попрощатися з сумбурною, але душевною трилогією про Венома.