Venom: Let There Be Carnage
A haphazard, shoddy follow-up to the cult hit.
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is still struggling to deal with having the symbiote Venom living in his body, when Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) takes a shine to him. Looking to resurrect his career, Eddie forms a relationship with the serial killer, only to lose his trust when he finds the bodies of Cletus’ victims. Before Cletus is killed by lethal injection, however, he bites Eddie, and in turn receives a little bit of symbiote himself - the titular Carnage. Breaking out of prison with the help of Carnage, he connects with his ex - Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris), a mutant whose screams are deadly to humans, and even more so to symbiotes - and wreaks havoc on the city. Eddie, along with his ex Anne (Michelle Williams), Dr. Dan (Reid Scott), Detective Mulligan (Stephen Graham) and of course Venom, must take them down before it’s too late.
The most shocking thing about Venom: Let There Be Carnage is (a) that it was made and (b) that this franchise continues to attract incredible quality actors despite the fact that the movies are roundly terrible.
Nevertheless, whereas the first Venom had some redeeming features, particularly for the popcorn-flick loving typical cinema-goer, this movie truly scrapes the bottom of the barrel, and feels like it was shot in a single day. Almost as if the previous movie wrapped up a day early, and the director suggested “should we get another one in the can?” before everyone went home.
The movie kicks off in what feels like the middle of a film, with absolutely no preamble. The characters, arcs and events are all so heavily redone from other movies, and so massively cliched, that boredom sets in fairly early. Couple that with some truly terrible CGI, only surpassed in horrific quality standards by the incredibly bad wigs on Woody Harrelson, and you’ll find the 97 minute runtime interminable.
The problem with this franchise as a whole is that, at its core, Tom Hardy as the dual Eddie Brock/Venom, and the way that the writers have written the duo (as well as how the directors portray them), is a fantastic success. Venom has a childlike excitement, and Hardy offsets this with his Brock, who is so weary as to be ready to give up Venom just to get some peace. Couple that with Hardy’s ability to go all out for a relatively thankless script, and role, and you have a sort of match made in heaven.
The issue, is that not once in now two films, have the creative team been able to assemble a compelling, engaging story around this duo. As this movie wraps up with a big post-credits sting that could signal major MCU developments, you’ll find yourself with two conflicting thoughts: firstly, that Venom: Let There Be Carnage was an absolute waste of time; a horrible film that drained you of 90 odd minutes of your life, and secondly, that you can’t wait to see Hardy on screen as Brock and Venom again.
