Venom: The Last Dance Is a Fun and Worthy Farewell to Tom Hardy’s Alien Antics (Review)

With the exception of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, few Marvel-based superhero films have cultivated the evil charm, gallows humor and crazy fun that the three Venom films and the latest triumphant film have achieved.” Venom: The Last Dance doesn’t disappoint by any means.

Much of the credit for the success of this third and final installment in the Venom trilogy goes to first-time director Kelly Marcel, who handled this $120 million project like a seasoned pro.

Marcel, who co-wrote the first 2018 Venom film and also wrote its 2021 sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, has shared the script for The Last Dance with its charismatic star Tom Hardy this time around. Together, they send the predatory symbiote here at a high level, delivering a lively and rowdy entertainment that lasts just 109 minutes.

A huge alien beast with a sharp-toothed grin. — We sadly say goodbye to Venom in The Last Dance. (Image credit: Sony Pictures)

Released last weekend by Sony Pictures and already earning $175 million worldwide, Venom: The Last Dance does exactly what it sets out to do and does it with the confidence that it knows its strengths and delivers them to fans.” Venom.” who might just be a little confused after finishing the movie.

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple and Rhys Ifans, The Last Dance takes place immediately after the events of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, when Eddie Brock and his shapeshifting black parasite find their true reality in the multiverse, but now finds themselves being hunted down and pursued as fugitives by several hostile parties.

As Commander Rex Strickland, Ejiofor gives a solid performance as the gruff and tough military leader of the Imperium, a covert government operation tasked with capturing and studying any invading symbiotes.

Juno Temple, a wonderful actress in other projects, seems completely out of place in this film and completely miscast. Her annoying presence is often somewhat jarring as scientist Dr. Teddy Payne, who experiments with symbiotes in an underground laboratory beneath the former Area 51 base.

VENOM: THE LAST DANCE – Final Trailer (HD) – YouTube
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE - Final Trailer (HD) - YouTube

This minor distraction aside, Hardy is a magnetic force as the British performer reprises his complex role as Eddie Brock, the reluctant host of a wisecracking, chocolate-munching alien organism. Throughout the trio of Venom films, he honed his slapstick antics and conflicting emotions to near perfection.

The storyline remains tense and focused, revolving around an old-fashioned road trip as Eddie and Venom go on the run, meeting a variety of colorful characters along the way. They are also haunted by an alien creature known as the Xenophage, a hideous reptilian monster sent by an imprisoned evil overlord named Knull, creator of the symbiotes. Venom is the keeper of the so-called codex, which is the key to freeing Knull, and as long as Eddie and Venom are alive, the Earth and the Universe are in grave danger of destruction.

Besides the raw singing in the middle section while riding in a hippie family’s van on the way to Area 51, there are plenty of thrilling moments to mention in The Last Dance, namely Venom’s horse, an action-packed underwater sequence where commandos fight, a penthouse dance number in Las Vegas and the grand finale on the decommissioned Area 51 runway.

Horse covered in black tar goo

Venom’s horse jumps into “The Last Dance”. (Image credit: Sony Pictures)

The Last Dance does suffer from the same nasty disease that plagues many Marvel blockbusters in that their villains lack substance. Here, Knull, god of the symbiotes, remains largely in the shadows, imprisoned on the planet Klyntar, surrounded by a faithful nest of xenophage beasts ready for their turn to strike.

Any enemy relegated to a position of passive participation is doomed to failure, although the post-credits scene at least gives us a glimpse of his evil face.

The Spider-Man spin-off Venom trilogy has been a brilliant experiment, grossing $1.5 billion to date, and this exciting threequel should please fans. When will there be more symbiotes in the MCU? Who can say, but they will improve!

Venom: The Last Dance Is a Fun and Worthy Farewell to Tom Hardy’s Alien Antics (Review)

Archives

Categories