- Tom Hardy, Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rhys Ifans
- October 25th 2024
- 109
- Kelly Marcel
Tom Hardy returns as Eddie Brock and the voice of his alien symbiote Venom in the third and final outing.
Three years after the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the Venom franchise finally comes to a conclusion with Venom: The Last Dance.
Following on from the events of the previous film, former journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his alien symbiote Venom are on the run.
But it’s not just federal agents who are on the lookout for them – they are being tracked by a team running a secret underground symbiote lab underneath Area 51 as well as a huge symbiote eater sent to kill Venom in order to free his caged master.
The Last Dance is exactly on par with the previous two films, for better or worse. It is entertaining for the same reasons and terrible for the same reasons – but at least fans know what to expect!
Like the others, this film works best when it’s essentially a buddy comedy about two entities trying to co-exist in the same body. They bicker like an old married couple and their interactions are very funny.
Venom, the character, is given the best lines and his delivery is hilarious. You wouldn’t expect this alien lifeform to know about Crocs or the lyrics to David Bowie’s Space Oddity but it continues to surprise us.
Once again, Hardy does a tremendous job playing dual roles that converse with each other constantly. He reacts to his own Venom voice and makes it seem so natural and effortless.
Unfortunately, outside of these positives, the film is an absolute mess. The plot is very weak and unengaging, the script is filled with awkward expositional dialogue, the action sequences are visually messy and hard to follow, and the editing needs work.
It tries to achieve too many things and involves too many characters and plotlines when it could have been much simpler.
Also, Hardy’s co-stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Juno Temple are lumbered with bad dialogue and thin characters as Rex Strickland and Dr. Teddy Payne, a soldier and scientist working in the symbiote facility. There is an attempt to humanise Dr. Payne but her past trauma is repeated so often that it becomes ineffective.
Venom fans will probably enjoy this instalment because it is simply more of what came before and because it wraps up Eddie and Venom’s storyline in a poignant way. Stay seated until the end of the credits!
In cinemas from Friday 25th October.
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