Directed By Kelly Marcel

Starring – Tom Hardy, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans

The Plot – Eddie (Hardy) and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images and strong adult language.

VENOM: THE LAST DANCE – Official Trailer (HD) (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Despite an abundance of the same creative issues that hindered its previous two installments, ‘The Last Dance’ still maintains a respectable foundation that keeps it from the kind of 2024 disaster that was ‘Madame Web’, which should make it essentially full proof for those who enjoyed the other two movies. It obviously starts with Hardy and particularly the dynamic that he shares with his bodily symbiote, carving out a buddy-bonded chemistry that works terrifically well in the confines of a movie that structurally feels like buddy road trip comedies of the past, with the two of them experiencing a plethora or unique experiences through one another. While the comedic material unfortunately lets the wind out of their sails a bit, the hearty depth that Hardy cements to Eddie Brock, helps elevate him far beyond feeling like just another typical superhero protagonist, and when combined with the abundance of gut-wrenching physicality that he’s asked to convey to such an unrelatable bodily conflict that audiences are unfamiliar with, really attains a transparency and believability that go a long way towards transcending the movie’s special effects, all the while leaving Hardy as the single merited performance of the collective ensemble who feels like he’s giving any kind of effort to the engagement. Speaking of those special effects, they are definitely much improved from the previous two films, and paid off enticingly throughout some high stakes and intense action sequences that add a bit of a kick to the movie’s climactic third act. While obviously nowhere on the level of some of the most devastating or impactful action, there’s a lot of creativity in the capabilities of Venom that finally feels utilized after three films, crafting a ferociously dangerous onslaught with the backdrop of Area 51 serving as the stage to which this confrontation takes shape. As to where these conflicts typically have surmised artificiality in special effects that are more than a little jarring with the ways they interact with their live action counterparts, the direction here from Marcel really emphasizes heft and versatility in ways that cater wonderfully towards the suspended disbelief of the audience, gifting us captivating sequences, even if just in small and sporadic doses. Lastly, the film has very little opportunity to overstay its welcome at a pleasant 95-minute run time, but even in such responsibly maintains emphasis throughout the many beats of the storytelling, which help to keep it from lingering in one place for far too long. This certainly made ‘The Last Dance’ the easiest of the three watches, especially in the dependency towards its wacky self-aware tone that I never could’ve dreamed of during the brooding original, but beyond that steadied the pacing accordingly with swift sequencing that continuously persists forward, crafting as much into an engagement with very little time to think about it in the heat of the moment.

NEGATIVES

At the risk of sounding redundant to my other two reviews towards this franchise, ‘The Last Dance’ is another example of a creatively incoherent screenplay that constantly feels at odds with itself, with many spontaneously sporadic ideas that never materialize into one fulfilling direction. This could be a result of the writers jamming as much into a script before an unforeseen writers strike stalled their production for nearly a year, but the storytelling feels every bit disjointed as it does confrontational with the actions that it creates for itself, brandishing not only a litany of plot holes and conveniences that plague the proceedings, but also dramatically undercuts the key components to this installment that potentially could’ve made it the best of the franchise, but instead failed it the loudest. Primary antagonist Knull is the biggest sacrifice in this sentiment, deduced to a thankless role in the shadows where we barely see or hear from the character throughout the run time, which only further drains the momentum from the drama that should make this feel like such a battle of will’s for Eddie and Venom, but instead never enact vulnerability or urgency to the designs of what they’re continuously up against. Knull is really only even in this movie to drive the plot, so I wonder why they couldn’t just use one of the other various villains to do this, instead of one of the most powerful ones in the Marvel Universe. On top of this, so much about this script should’ve easily been left on the cutting room floor. From a side plot involving a hippie family that Eddie meets on the road, to various cutaways alongside medical doctors and army generals, any time the movie distances itself from Eddie and Venom, it never attains any semblance of merit to justify the separation, although I can’t quite blame the intention, as the script has as much to do for the dynamic duo as they do any of the other littered faces among the flock. In a sense, it really feels like the writers had many ideas for Venom to experience, so why not use them all, even if it brings nothing to the film that they’re a part of? Musical numbers? Family bonding? Gambling? Practically all things that a gruesome killing machine like Venom was made for, and even if these things threaten the sanctity of longtime comic enthusiasts who have a perception about how the character should be portrayed, it pales in comparison to the humor and corresponding dialogue, which try as hard as they can to be Deadpool, without any of the cleverness or fearlessness of the material to manufacture constant laughs from the audience. When I say the material bombs, I mean it humiliatingly, as not only are the gags telegraphed from miles away, but also they’re also constantly delivered with the same annoying Venom voice that plagued the previous two films, so when he fails it only emphasizes how much lack of an impact there was to material so juvenile, creating these pocketed gaps of silence for the audience to laugh, but made all the louder with the crippling silence that will deafen an auditorium. Even worse, the consistency towards its silly personality directly undercuts the intention of its finale to earn any kind of dramatic heart or redeeming quality to the long-distance outlook of the franchise, failing on profound intentions in ways that are unintentionally laughable in ways the comedy never could come close to attaining. The dialogue also lends itself to the same kind of long-winded exposition dumps that have unnaturally narrated the previous films, where conversations between characters feel far more shaped directly at the audience, in order to convey backstory into a character who hasn’t been a part of this universe until the third and rumored final installment. The problem in this instance is that the movie has no naturally subtle way of inspiring such pivotal information, so the interactions between characters feel like lightning round discussions to impressively obvious degrees that simultaneously spoil developments long before they happen, with topics that serve no other purpose but to hold relevance somewhere down the line. Finally, I credited Hardy as the only effortful performance in the bunch, and that’s because this big name cast who the movie spent millions of dollars assembling are completely wasted with one-dimensional characters who, quite frankly, could’ve been played by anyone. This burden of responsibility might sound solely on the shoulders of the screenwriter, as their outlines are so uncompelling and lifeless that they can be summarized by their careers, instead of personalities, but Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, and Chiwetel Ejiofor completely phone it in with performances that scream cash grab, with nothing of memorable substance or depth to any one of their respective portrayals. Typically, when you see actors like these in these kind of roles, you expect that they will become a pivotal part to the script at some point in the exploration, but it never comes to fruition beyond anything other than them serving as narrators to the developments of previous scenes, which seem to all but confirm why critically praised actors like themselves would ever want anything to do with roles so thankless.

OVERALL
‘Venom: The Last Dance’ is a chaotically structured and creatively incoherent finale that feels more like an obligation than opportunity to so much assembled talent. Despite Tom Hardy’s inter-species bromance eliciting teeth that often chews the scenery, the third chapter is plagued by forgettable execution that belongs in another long-gone universe of superhero movies, where direction and artistic integrity feels secondary to one last conniving cash grab to a passionately unresisting fanbase.

My Grade: 4/10 or D-