Venom: The Last Dance

Being Rated R probably would have saved this; I am just saying!

This trilogy-capper almost makes me question if I have become more of a movie critic than a movie enjoyer. Then I remembered this is Sony's Spider-Man Universe we are talking about, which gave us films like "Morbius" and "Madame Web." I nonetheless went in here with an open mind, considering I do not mind the two previous "Venom" films that came out. After seeing "The Last Dance," I question whether Sony was trying to set up their universe or give Eddie Brock and Venom the send-off they deserve. I am sadly leaning more toward the former.

I should preface this review by telling you what I thought of the other two "Venom" films upon rewatch in preparation for this third installment. Those were entertaining yet disappointing superhero films saved by the performance of Tom Hardy as both Eddie Brock and Venom. The first was innocent enough, with a dull first and more engaging second half, a weak villain in Riz Ahmed's Carlton Drake/Riot, exciting action, and Hardy performing nicely. Its sequel, "Let There Be Carnage," surprisingly got better when revisiting it, easily surpassing its predecessor, with Hardy allowed to stretch his comedic abilities with Brock and Venom bickering hilariously. In addition, there is Woody Harrelson's enjoyable performance as Cletus Kasady/Carnage, who manages to rise above the flaws, including the disappointing inclusion of Naomie Harris' Frances Barrison/Shriek. Hardy was allowed to have fun with his characters, and the movies complimented him with a narrative that was not too complicated. The opposite is true for "The Last Dance."

Let's get the positives out of the way first. It is a short list, which I am deeply saddened by, but I want to show you how it is not the worst superhero film out there or even the worst film of the year.

Despite a woeful screenplay, Tom Hardy still does skillfully with Eddie Brock and Venom. He is not allowed to have as much fun as he did in the prior two films, but he is trying his best (right, the positives. Sorry).

The rest of the cast delivered equally solid performances, with the other standout being Chiwetel Ejiofor as Orwell Taylor. Ejiofor always has a commanding presence whenever he is in a movie, with his characters of Baron Mordo in the two "Doctor Strange" films and Bathurst 2020 in the forgettable "Infinite" being the two I can think of at the top of my head. Even if the film is not the best, Ejiofor makes it work, and if it is fantastic, he always steals the show.

The visual effects bring Venom and the other alien characters to gorgeous life. The other two "Venom" movies, granted, had remarkable CGI, but it is worth mentioning, specifically when discussing the positives.

The action is somewhat fun. The "Venom" movies have always had enjoyable action. Unfortunately, "The Last Dance" was the least fun action-wise, but the first scene with action was sweet.

The Venom symbiote is sometimes uniquely utilized. The trailers showcased Venom controlling a horse, and in the film, it is one of its best scenes. I am unsure if this is a spoiler, but he controls other animals, and they introduce other symbiotes, which is fun.

I think that is it for the positives.

I felt the portrayal of Eddie Brock and Venom this time was not good. Again, Hardy tried, but there were multiple times when it felt like he was bored. His character was, admittedly, bored at intervals, and Hardy is a screenwriter, but I am saying how it felt.

The film tries to add new characters, but they are not compelling. The most obvious example is Dr. Payne, played by Juno Temple, who does nothing aside from believing that Brock is not a danger, while Ejiofor wants what is best for the world, considering the alien threat from Knull.

Speaking of Knull, he was worse than Carlton Drake. He only sends alien minions to grab a MacGuffin that Venom has. I have not read the comics, but the impression I get from others and this movie is that Knull has a profound lore not represented here. Having Knull's alien pals and the Area 51 agents as the villains is too much, yet somehow too little.

They also wasted Stephen Graham's Detective Mulligan. The trailers made it seem like Mulligan would be a principal and intriguing character. The only two interesting aspects about Mulligan are he has a symbiote and warns of Knull. That is it.

Furthermore, it does not have that much comedy. "Let There Be Carnage" can easily be classified as a comedy, and I laughed more than I would like to admit. I think two laughs and three to five chuckles were all I had here. The film was not funny outside of the Venom horse and some banter between Brock and Venom.

On top of that, there was not that much emotion. It is due to how much Brock and Venom were not well utilized and the clutter of characters. I did not care about the Area 51 personnel nor the unnamed family who brought Brock and Venom to Vegas. When the ending came along, which heightened the stakes to an unbelievable degree, I did not get emotional. It tried, but it failed to work.

The other two "Venom" movies were entertaining, but this failed to come close. In an era where "superhero fatigue" is becoming more accepted, this trilogy-closer did not try anything new. Fascinating concepts here and there, and many standout scenes fail to save this disappointment in a franchise filled with them.

Technically, a 6/10. Outside of the plot and the underwhelming screenplay, the visual effects remain exceptional, the actors did great, and the film functions.

For the enjoyment score, I wanted to like this film. I had the sneaking suspicion that it might not work, but watching "Let There Be Carnage" increase in quality gave me hope. It was no "Let There Be Carnage" and is easily the weakest of the trilogy. It had the issues that plagued the likes of "Spider-Man 3" and "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," but does not come close to being as entertaining as them. I am so unhappy that the enjoyment score is a 4/10, but this trilogy deserved a better conclusion. Maybe it will get better when I watch it again, but as it stands, it is best for me to recommend you wait until Netflix or even Disney+.

If cinematic catastrophes could have a mascot, this would be standing at the front of the line, waving its tattered flag of mediocrity. Tom Hardy's final outing as Eddie Brock/Venom is not just a disappointment-it's an insult to audiences everywhere. To call this movie bad would be a kindness. This is an incoherent, muddled, and utterly joyless mess that somehow manages to fall short of even the lowest expectations.

The premise of Eddie and Venom being "on the run" from both worlds promised at least some thrilling action. Instead, what we get is a chaotic, poorly-scripted nightmare of disjointed scenes and absurd plot holes big enough to swallow the entire Marvel universe. The narrative, if you can call it that, lurches forward with all the grace of a drunken man stumbling in the dark. There is no rhyme or reason to the events that unfold. It's like the writers cobbled together every half-baked idea they could think of and hoped nobody would notice how little sense any of it makes.

The so-called "devastating decision" that Eddie and Venom face feels less like a culmination of their journey and more like a cheap, hollow ploy to yank on the audience's emotions. But even that attempt falls flat because, by the time it arrives, the viewer is too exhausted from enduring 90 minutes of mindless drivel to care.

Eddie Brock, once a complex and conflicted anti-hero from the source comics, is reduced to a pathetic shell of his former self, mumbling and stumbling through the film like he just wants to get it over with.

The supporting characters are even worse-if that's possible. Whoever thought it was a good idea to use cardboard cutouts of side characters nobody cares about and clearly has no understanding of what made the earlier films (barely) work.

They serve no purpose other than to waste screen time and remind us that, yes, someone actually wrote this drivel down on paper.

It wouldn't be a Venom movie without over-the-top CGI battles, right? Well, unfortunately, the action scenes here are so poorly executed and short to save cost that even those who came purely for mindless entertainment will leave disappointed. The special effects are a headache-inducing blur of dark, indistinguishable shapes smashing into each other, with zero sense of tension or creativity.

The final fight scene feels like -an unintelligible swirl of chaos that is supposed to distract us from the fact that nothing of consequence is happening. It's not exciting, it's not entertaining, it's just ugly.

At its core it tries to sell itself as a dramatic, emotional farewell to Eddie and Venom's bond, but it doesn't even come close to achieving that. Any attempt at emotional weight is drowned by the film's clumsy pacing and complete lack of character development. The so-called "devastating" decision feels unearned, forced, and utterly unconvincing. There is no sense of closure, no satisfying payoff-just a hollow, empty finale that leaves you wondering why you wasted your time in the first place.

Avoid this movie like the symbiote plague it is. Eddie and Venom deserved better. We all deserved better.

Tom's ego and nepotism to promote his FWB director both of whom had sole credit of writing the script should tell you that how much he actually despises the franchise.

Tom was the ultimate culprit is giving the first movie it's comic tone and had heated arguments with Ruben Flesicher on set to such an extent that filming halted for a few days. There were 3 script writers on the first movie can you guess who was one of them?

It's the director of this movie who with her relationship strong armed and hijacked the plot elements and forced to introduce the comic tone into the first movie by reshooting the movie which had resulted in a disjointed mess.

Even the Ruben had expressed his deep regrets about that but I guess if you can control the leading star you can have your way.

If you closely look at the tone of the first movie first trailer you will notice the horror and science fiction elements present which had been stripped down to barebones and gag and quips reigned supreme.

Maybe it's just because of my low expectations toward the series but it was just fun to watch. I've already lost hope for the trilogy to have a decent plot but I can say that this one has a better storyline than the second film.

CGI was fine, I coudn't find any disturbing point. It was interesting to see the other symbiotes. I think those new symbiotes showed more symbiote-ish action scenes than venom when it comes to the fight ironically.

There were a few funny jokes that made me laugh but I didn't really find Eddie's weird obsession for shoes funny, like was it supposed to be funny? Guess it was meant to be humor but well... it was almost tiring.

A solid enough send off for this 'Venom' trilogy.

'Venom: The Last Dance' is decently amusing and produces enough entertainment with its plot. I didn't personally find it overly funny, though the person a few seats across from me had an absolute blast - never a bad thing seeing people enjoy themselves!

Tom Hardy remains the key element of these films, they would be far less enjoyable without his presence. There's a nice montage of sorts towards the end, it admittedly didn't 'hit' all that much for me but I imagine it's effective for proper fans of the series. Rhys Ifans and Chiwetel Ejiofor stick out most from the other characters.

It is genuinely impressive that Sony managed to make the most mediocre trilogy ever with such an iconic character.

In terms of enjoyment, Eddie and Venom continue to be a delightfully fun duo. In this 3rd movie, they are basically on a road trip and that was relatively entertaining for the most part. The final act of the movie was also a pretty enjoyable CGI action fest with some emotional scenes.

However, the story and script are still as flat as ever. The narrative feels very half baked with it feeling like a chain of things just randomly happening. Pointless characters that don't add much. Jokes being thrown at you just to see which land. Rhys Ifans and Chiwetel Ejiofor characters could have been played by anyone but feels purposely done because they knew fans recognised them from other Marvel projects. The villain Knull looks cool but is just there to be teased for future projects.

Overall, it is better than the second film but just on par with the first. It is a mediocre final entry. Sony continues to disappoint with their universe and We all know Venom is coming back somehow. I do worry for Spiderman 4 and hope Sony don't mess that movie in anyway.