The latest entry in Sony's Venom franchise, Venom: The Last Dance, promised fans the same chaotic energy and quirky humor that made Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his symbiote alter ego household names. However, this third installment struggles to deliver the bizarre, comedic vibe that fans loved while attempting to establish a finality that doesn’t quite feel earned. Here’s an in-depth look at why The Last Dance may leave long-time fans underwhelmed.
A Thin Villain in a Shallow Plot
Venom: The Last Dance introduces Knull, a primordial god of darkness played by Andy Serkis, whose connection to the symbiote world hints at potential depth. Unfortunately, Knull’s actual presence in the film is fleeting, reduced to distant orders and CGI manifestations that lack the eerie weight needed for a memorable villain. This weak antagonist presence highlights one of the movie’s core issues: The Last Dance is torn between a quest for emotional depth and an inability to create a menacing central threat.
Without the explosive clash that Woody Harrelson's Cletus Kasady brought in Let There Be Carnage, The Last Dance feels lacking in suspense. Director Kelly Marcel’s narrative takes multiple detours, aiming to add complexity with side characters and subplots, but the movie instead feels like a scattered chessboard where pieces are moved solely to keep the story going. The attempt to emulate a traditional superhero narrative with grand showdowns and high stakes comes across as forced, overshadowing the organic flow that characterized the previous films.
A Journey to Nowhere: Plot and Side Characters
Picking up where Let There Be Carnage left off, Eddie and Venom are on the run, seeking refuge in New York. Their journey is interrupted by Knull's relentless minion, who tracks them through the American countryside, and by the appearance of Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a government agent determined to eliminate all symbiotes on Earth. Strickland's stiff, generic role as the hard-nosed military official feels outdated and uninteresting.
Additionally, we meet Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple), a scientist more interested in symbiote preservation than destruction. Though Temple injects some enthusiasm into her role, her character’s serious tone is hard to reconcile with the goofy world of Eddie and Venom. The backstories of Strickland and Payne, revealed through flashbacks and dialogue, seem overly serious and drag the film down further. Their subplot adds more screen time but little value, missing the humor that fans expect.
Lost in Chaos: Venom’s Lack of Fun
The beauty of Venom movies has always been the bizarre, zany dynamic between Eddie and his parasite companion. The duo’s back-and-forth was where these movies thrived. Unfortunately, The Last Dance devotes less time to this chaotic relationship, trading laughs and playful antics for action-heavy sequences and drawn-out exposition. The few moments where the film lets Tom Hardy’s Eddie shine are by far the most enjoyable, underscoring the missed opportunity of not focusing on what worked so well before.
Even Hardy's energetic performance can't save a film bogged down by an overly sentimental tone. Rather than leaning into the hilariously immature nature of Venom's cravings and Eddie's exasperation, The Last Dance tries to introduce a sense of finality and sentimentality that feels disjointed from the franchise’s essence. The film’s attempt to explore the bond between Eddie and Venom through a sentimental lens dilutes the franchise’s oddball charm.
A Glimmer of Humor: Rhys Ifans’ Scene-Stealing Performance
The movie isn’t entirely without its brighter moments. Rhys Ifans makes a memorable cameo as Martin Moon, a hippie with a lifelong obsession with Area 51 and aliens. His antics inject a much-needed dose of humor into the otherwise heavy plot. Ifans’ quirky performance brings back some of the offbeat energy that the Venom series is known for, if only briefly.
This subplot, featuring Moon's accidental entanglement with Eddie, Strickland, and Payne, provides a few laughs and taps into the goofy spirit that has made Venom’s character so popular. It’s one of the few times The Last Dance feels genuinely fun.
A Finale Lacking in Fun and Focus
Venom: The Last Dance is neither the outrageous comedy that its predecessors were nor the thrilling superhero movie it wants to be. The convoluted plot and excessive focus on supporting characters drag the film down, and its overly serious tone undermines the franchise’s quirky essence. While the Venom series was never one for classic storytelling or tight plots, it always excelled at being weird and entertaining. Unfortunately, this final chapter is the least entertaining yet, leaving fans with a finale that’s as chaotic as it is disappointing.
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