IR Film Review: VENOM - THE LAST DANCE [Marvel/Sony]
The perspective on a current Venom film is usually a bunch of random scenes with the possibility of maybe some interesting character work smelted inside in some way shape or form. The question is how does this integrate into a bigger fabric or does it? “Venom: The Last Dance” does nothing really to bring this to bear. The baddie in this entry is teased but there is no sense of who he is (though we do see who he is played by). This movie more than the previous two is about a bromance between Eddie and Venom but there is almost less screentime with the monster than before. It starts off in Mexico where the last one ended but” Spider Man: Far From Home” took place betweem then. It might have been better to leave this well enough alone.
Though this film does dive into the empathy of Venom there could have been a better use of this money or least fashion to fashion a story. It comes off as randomly planned vignettes with very little cohesion (and frankly a little lazy — this comes off particular clearly when it gets to Las Vegas). Tom Hardy seems to be having fun but it comes like a B (or even C) film from the late 80s with a big budget. Whether or not it connects with audiences is anybody’s guess. The CG paint splatter which was evident at the end of the last film is here with even less sense and the use or disuse of characters in this is fairly atrocious. Chiwitel Ejiofor and Juno Temple are just placeholders and pawns of the story which is too bad. There is an uncredited cameo which is quite good if there was more of an understanding of the reason.
With an allusion to “Dreamcatcher,” this specific role is the best performance in the whole movie but its only reasoning is exposition. Rhys Ifans who brought much more depth to his acting in “House Of The Dragon:” plays a caricature here that really comes off as plot drivel. The ending and all of its meaning is quite besides the point. It is hard to believe something like this gets made and it is also too bad because the duo in Eddie and Venom at the heart of it can be quite good. The story and the whole reason for it is the problem. F
By Tim Wassberg
