The opening of Kelly Marcel’s Venom: The Last Dance posits the movie as yet another nonsensical entry in the Sony Spider-Man Universe, retconning the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home to fit in the ‘make it up as we go along’ narrative of Avi Arad’s terminally ill Spider-Man less Marvel franchise. As expected, Knull (Andy Serkis) is barely in the movie and is only introduced as the universe’s “Thanos,” with little to no motivations beyond the gobbledygook he spews at a mile-a-minute pace during the film’s pre-Marvel logo cold open (a first for Sony!).
But, boy, did Sony put him in every single promotional material to make it look like he’s the main antagonist of the picture. He’s not. Scratch that; he sort of is. He sends his minions to retrieve Eddie Brock/Venom’s (Tom Hardy) Codex, which appeared in the symbiote’s neck once he was first killed. The Codex is yet another pointless comic-book movie thingamajig, but this one allows Knull to free himself from the prison he’s trapped in, which would mean terrible news for the symbiotes and planet Earth itself. It’s relatively uninspired stuff that gets explained as if it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of its plot, with Marcel devoting very little time to it throughout its 109-minute runtime.
But it doesn’t matter. Once Eddie Brock returns to his universe and discovers he’s a fugitive for allegedly killing Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham), the film quickly finds its groove with a superbly kinetic action sequence where Venom rapidly disposes of goons and chomps their head off. The violence isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but how Marcel and cinematographer Fabian Wagner (a collaborator of Zack Snyder, mind you) move their cameras inspires hope that this installment in the Venom trilogy will finally care about showcasing its titular character as more than a mindless CGI blob.
None of the previous Venom movies, while having great cinematographers collaborating with directors Ruben Fleischer and Andy Serkis (Matthew Libatique & Robert Richardson), could meaningfully translate the character’s symbiotic action to life. The first Venom saw the protagonist battle a gray version of him, indistinguishable from Brock if only slightly bigger, while the second film made him fight a red version of the character. And while Let There Be Carnage is aesthetically a more interesting film than the first, particularly in how it employs superimpositions, its action rapidly turns into mind-numbing sludge when it reaches its Biblical-inspired climax.
In Venom: The Last Dance, Marcel, in her feature directorial debut, is tasked to stage the most ambitious action scene of the entire franchise: a Deadpool Corps setpiece of sorts where symbiotic creatures go after Knull’s Minions while Area 51 is shutting down (but aesthetically more intriguing than the entirety of Deadpool & Wolverine). Employing IMAX cameras, Marcel and Wagner finally craft a decidedly playful scene that showcases the symbiote’s hybridity in adapting itself to the bodies it connects with and imbues each frame with immense feeling. Some of it may be a bit on the chintzy side (it’s a Sony movie, after all). However, there isn’t a single part of that scene that isn’t show-stopping, from the propulsive frame of a mounting camera on a turret gun attempting to obliterate a Xenophage to the different symbiotes showcasing their powers in a surprisingly (visually) clear way.
This comes after another bravura, IMAX-shot setpiece, where Eddie battles Rex Strickland’s (Chiwetel Ejiofor) army under a current of strong water about to send him plunging far deep into the afterlife. The jolt of the aspect ratio change rapidly positions the scene as an essential moment in Eddie running away from the troubles he created while being possessed by a symbiote he initially did not want. But he’s found a profound connection with it that he can’t imagine living without his buddy at his side. Serkis briefly alluded to this idea in Let There Be Carnage’s final scene (while Fleischer avoided it altogether in the 2018 film, which is why the film is the poorest-reviewed of the three) but never thoroughly explored it. Marcel, however, makes it The Last Dance’s beating heart and soul.
It’s also why the movie works. Without Hardy at the front and center of this quasi-romantic story between a man who had no purpose before an alien symbiote made him the Lethal Protector, the movies wouldn’t have been as successful as they are. And it’s such a joy to see him have the time of his life in this film, having far more fun letting loose and embracing the campy, almost charming nature of the symbiote than the self-serious attempts at making him a brooding (PG-13) killing machine in the first and second films.
Again, Serkis flirted with a focus on the human/symbiote relationship but seemed afraid to explore it meaningfully. Without side characters that prevented it from being the focus of the pictures, The Last Dance moves along swiftly in giving Brock a sense of finality as someone who has to ‘let go’ of his (actually) poisonous relationship that will never reward him in any way. Even if he enjoys the time spent with his friend, he knows his life won’t be easy if it goes on like this. The movie’s core sees Brock wrestling with his inner feelings, whether through a poignant car conversation with hippie Martin (Rhys Ifans, who does not play Curt Connors) or realizing what he must do to obtain satisfaction for himself and the world.
This challenge is portrayed through a profoundly human lens, from Hardy’s reflective, almost self-actualizing performance as Brock (by the time the film ends, Brock, and, by extension, Hardy, reaches the fourth stage). He’s found a deep appreciation for the character over the years, particularly illustrated in a soulful montage where he reminisces the time he spent with not only the character inside the film’s diegesis but outside.
None of the emotions he conveys in that sequence seems faked because Hardy deeply reveres the character he brought to life and how he worked on the movie. I’ve never seen an actor talk the way he did on the process of developing Eddie and Venom’s accents and voice, unashamed at the version he decided to depict on screen, and proud of the work he did in a trilogy of films that see a progression for not only Venom but Brock himself. It seems incredibly bizarre considering the reception these movies received, but no one can deny Hardy loved being a part of this franchise and has worked hard to give this iteration of Venom his time in the spotlight.
Of course, Venom: The Last Dance isn’t high art, nor will it satisfy anyone who’s currently not a fan of Sony’s pointless Marvel Universe that only exists because Avi Arad wants to hold on to the rights of the characters as long as possible. Arad is a menace and has tarnished so much of the modern superhero landscape that any lousy movie released in this day and age has ripple effects for the Marvel and DC franchises that are currently skating on thin ice. If these movies don’t reward audiences, why should you continue watching them?
However, there’s something about Marcel’s imprint that the other films don’t have that makes this one feel like a legitimate movie, and not an Avi Arad money-laundering scheme. From the constantly show-stopping action sequences to the fully-developed relationship between Eddie and Venom that reaches a tragic finality, there’s an aching sincerity to it that previous Venom films didn’t tap into. Perhaps Ejiofor and Juno Temple’s characters aren’t as fleshed out as they should be, and Knull’s inclusion is constantly baffling, which are valid flaws to discuss in a movie that doesn’t necessarily care about story of plot efficiency.
But it almost doesn’t matter when Marcel finally tells the audience that the core of the Venom trilogy has always been about Eddie’s evolution with the symbiote and the frightening realization that their larger-than-life adventure has now reached its end. In its final moments, Marcel gives Venom: The Last Dance a melancholic coda that lays out what we should take away from this inconsistent but always entertaining trilogy: Eddie loved Venom, and Venom loved Eddie. There couldn’t have been a better, more loving conclusion than this.
Venom: The Last Dance is now playing in theatres.
