‘Venom: The Last Dance’ is an Action Packed, Underwhelming Shock to the Senses

Venom: The Last Dance

★ ★

This is the third cinematic outing for journalist-turned-superhero Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy). His superpowers come from an extraterrestrial parasite named Venom. Venom is a symbiote, a fictional parasitic alien race from the Marvel Comics series that attach themselves to a host and form a symbiotic relationship with them. Symbiotes can alter the memories, mood and personality of their host, who in turn embody the superpowers of the parasite.

The relationship between Eddie and Venom has been inconvenient and tumultuous for Eddie. From their relationship’s rocky start to now, Eddie has begrudgingly accepted Venom as a part of himself. The pair are an odd couple of sorts, living in one body. Eddie is reserved and cautious while Venom is raucous and obnoxious. When they work together for a common goal, they are virtually unstoppable.

Tom Hardy as Eddie
© 2024 Columbia Pictures

In this outing, Venom is hunted down by Knull (Andy Serkis), the Marvel Universe god of darkness. Knull is the creator of the symbiotes, who eventually betray and imprison him. His freedom would spell destruction for the universe and he’s found a key to his release. The relationship between Eddie and Venom has created an element within them known as a Codex, which has the power to release Knull from imprisonment. From his captivity, Knull is able to send another race of aliens to hunt Venom down. These are the Xenophages, so ferocious and formidable, Venom doesn’t believe he and Eddie will survive.

Amongst this, Eddie and Venom are also being hunted by United States Army General Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Stickland has his own ways of trying to capture Eddie and Venom and adds serious complications to their survival against Kull’s attack force.

Eddie and Venom requisition a horse
© 2024 Columbia Pictures

There’s a lot going on in this film, and if you haven’t seen the previous movies, or if you aren’t familiar with the comic series, you might find yourself lost at times. I recommend seeing the first two films to familiarize yourself.

It feels like the filmmakers decided to throw everything – including the kitchen sink – into the script that they could think of in order to keep the action flowing and the story interesting. This actually works somewhat for the first three quarters of the film, but becomes an overwhelming shock to the senses at the story’s climax. That’s where the screenplay loses its direction and focus.

Rhys Ifans as Martin
© 2024 Columbia Pictures

While the conclusion of the film, and this trilogy, is adorned with explosive action, it comes without a solid emotional connection to the characters. It gives us an exciting ending, which should be satisfying, but ultimately falls short.

While critics haven’t responded positively to the Venom series, audiences seem to rate the film much more favoribly. Because of this, I suspect this may not be Venom’s last dance after all.

I am relatively certain we’ll see this odd-couple duo back on screen in the not-too-distant future. Hopefully it comes with a better script.

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi