REVIEW:
It may be far from a great movie, but Venom 3 (the last dance,) is actually quite a bit of fun. You see, at this point, with these movies, you know what you’re gonna get. Which is to say that you’re not expecting some super smart plot or great character development. What you’re expecting is comedy and action. B movie level all the way. The comedy needs to be funny and the action needs to look good. And on both of these fronts, the movie works. In fact, this is probably the funniest of all three Venom movies. And maybe that has to do with the bar being kind of low, or that we are used to the relationship between Venom and Eddie Brock by now, and so we are just looking for more of the same, but for whatever reason, this one works, to an extent that is way better than one might expect.
The Sony Spider-Man-less universe, which this movie is a part of, has lowered our expectations tremendously. It’s gotten to the point where if we see something in the trailers that looks like it will connect to other films, or be a cool Easter egg,, we now realize it might just be a quick moment in the post credits scenes. That’s what happened with the Vulture in Morbius, who was prominently featured in the trailers, with his “what’s up doc?” line that was never actually in the film. It also happened with Woody Harrelson’s Carnage in the first Venom, who we kept hearing was going to be in the movie. So, in the case of Venom 3, we see a character named Knull in the trailers, just in a brief flash, and so we think maybe he won’t even be in the movie at all, but just in the post credits scene. And then we are happily surprised when he turns up in multiple scenes (brief as they may be,) Thanos style, to show that they are clearly trying to set something up.
After opening with Knull (a great way to prologue the film and get things started,) we join up with Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock in the bar where we last saw him in the post credits scene from Spider Man No Way Home. And we get to see that same scene again. Now, this is actually a terrific move, because what usually happens with these movies is that they tend to avoid making connections between Marvel and the Sonyverse. There is never a mention of Spider-Man in the Venom movies, for example, and never a mention of Venom in the Spider-Man movies. And that’s a huge mistake. But this time, the movie begins with the connection. And we get a funny line about the multiverse, as well as that line about Thanos, the purple alien, and his stones. Followed by a bartender scene where Venom mixes a drink, destroys the bar in the process, and gives us a decent laugh along the way.
From there, it’s an attack scene at a warehouse where some thugs are keeping dogs in cages and using them for fights. Venom breaks in and beats them all down. And even just hearing Eddie Brock tell Venom to go at it and have fun with these guys, is a nice change of pace from the previous films. At the end of the scene, Venom bites off all of their heads, and it’s the perfect punctuation to tell us this movie is on track to be a lot of fun.
It doesn’t end there. The story for the film is about a lab underground in the location of Area 51 in New Mexico, where a bunch of symbiotes are being studied. There’s.a head military general (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor,) who is working for the lab, going on missions with his team to find and bring back these symbiotess. And then there’s the scientist, played by Juno Temple, who works for the lab and is studying them.
That’a a solid cast right there. Temple is coming off her fantastic role in Fargo, and Ejiofor is the actor who plays Baron Mordo in Doctor Strange, a coincidence that this movie overlooks, when maybe it shouldn’t. For whatever reason, the Sonyverse seems to be afraid of making connections, or hinting at Easter eggs. For example, actor Rhys Ifans, is a prominent player in this movie, portraying a man on a road trip with his family, out to visit Area 51. But, you see, Ifans played Dr Curt Connors, better known as the Lizard, in The Amazing Spider-Man. He reappeared, (kind of) in Spider-Man No Way Home. How cool would it have been if there was any hint that he was still playing Connors here. Like maybe Connors changed his name, and had a new life with a family. that he started since the events of that first Andrew Garfield movie, (there could have even been a funny line like, “when you try to turn half of the population into lizards, maybe it’s best that people don’t know who you are anymore.”) But no such luck. This is not Connors, and having this actor here is tremendous wasted opportunity.
Now, these are complaints, if we’re going to speak about lack of Easter eggs, there are tons to go around. But the fact is, this movie does a lot right, and that’a pretty commendable. Tom Hardy is absolutely dynamite. Unlike the previous films, where he had other Oscar caliber actors to bounce off of (Michele Williams, Riz Ahmed,) here it seems like he’s doing a one man show. It’s him and Venom interacting with each other And considering it’s Hardy who voice Venom, himself, at the end of the day, it’s all Hardy. And one has to remember just how good this actor is, from movies like Locke (the best one-man performance in the history of cinema,) where he just has natural talent all the way. It wasn’t completely on display in the other Venom movies, (although there was that lobster tank scene in the first film that was Hardy-improvises,) but it is certainly own display here.
The way this movie soars at a break-neck pace is also to its credit. We see the military guys move in, dangling from ropes from a helicopter, as they pursue any signs of a threat. We see the different symbioses in the underground lab. This movie even connects nicely to the last Venom film, picking up where that movie left off, with Brock being accused of killing the cop from the last movie. And that cop is back in this one, now fully connected with a symbiotic of his own, and being studied at the lab. Aside from everything else, (the humor, the action, the pacing,) there’s also a nice sountrack here of familiar songs, from Cat Stevens to Maroon 5 to a sing along to David Bowies Space Oddity. It all works.
And in terms of villains, this movie also delivers. Kind of. There’s no big bad, or at least none that is defeated by the end of the movie, but what we get instead is a series of monsters who are sent by Knull, and who Venom must defeat. And I”ll take that, the setting up of Knull, and creatures he sends being the villains of this movie, any day, over the one-and-done element that Marvel often does, where a cool villain is featured, only to be killed off by the end of the movie. We aren’t living in the Die Hard ages anymore, where each movie needs its own fantastic villain for just that film. Now, it’s all about the world building and setting up. And this movie knows that.
There’s a whole lot to like here, from the creatures that venom fights, to the way that we get all kinds of symbioses joining together as a team by the end. Now, you would think that would be corny, in A Shazam, get the whole family together, and have each one be dressed in a different color, kind of way, but in this movie, each symbiotic is featured only a tiny bit. to the point that it leaves us wanting more. For example, I’m pretty sure there was a two-head symbiotic at one point, but god knows I can’t remember what happened to him. And that’s a good thing. Less is more, and this movie has finally figured that out.
So the movie works as a stand-alone film, with Hardy going all out and really delivering. It is in no way great (the locations seem limited to just this Area 51 base,) and there are so many wasted opportunities in terms of Easter eggs. But at the end of the day, the action is good and the humor is good, and we really can’t ask for more than that. It’s a fun B movie, and sometimes, that’a exactly what you need.