Venom: Let There be Carnage
Ten Second Review: Painfully mediocre, the stakes never feel high and the film’s most exciting moment is the mid-credit cut scene.
I kind of enjoyed the first Venom film. It wasn’t good, in fact it was a bit of a mess, but the parts where it worked were fun. Whatever it was, there was something that made me a little excited for a sequel.
We pick up the story with Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson). He’s framed almost as a character we already know, instead of a mid-credits cutscene, but with some backstory explanation just to be sure. He’s a serial killer behind bars and he refuses to speak with anyone other than Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) who visits with venom in tow. When Cletus gets a taste for symbiote, Eddie and Venom know they have the fight of their lives on their hands.
It’s difficult to review this film because it was overwhelmingly average. There really was very little that carved it out an identity and it felt incredibly generic from beginning to end. I think from the trailer and watching other superhero films, you could probably write a pretty accurate treatment of the path you expect the film to take.
Tom Hardy plays his part well and does really sell an alien living inside him. Woody Harrelson’s turn as the titular villain is pretty good too. The rest of the cast is fine and nothing stands out as bad or even questionable. It just feels a bit bland.
You can see they really tried to isolate and keep the bits that people liked and it shows in that the film feels more focused in its tone than the first one. There’s even scenes that feel like they’ve been ripped straight from the first one. This is both a strength and a weakness. When they made the second Sherlock film with Robert Downey Jr, it capitalised on picking up what audiences enjoyed. This gave the film excellent scenes but stopped it feeling unique and actually leant it in to feeling generic. Venom has the same struggle. I get that the film makers listened, but they need to combine the good parts of the film with something that feels new, otherwise I might as well just watch my favourite bits of the first one on YouTube and save my self the time.
It also doesn’t help that there never feels like there is any risk. Two CGI monsters going at it can be hard to sell as we instinctively know our “hero” will win out. Also, with undefined powers, it’s difficult for us to know if any of what we are seeing is even taxing for the beings duking it out. It’s hard to get excited by two cartoons whacking each other and this can be seen here when you compare this film to say Infinity War (which might as well be cartoons whacking each other) as there never feels as though there are stakes, but if there are we certainly don’t know them. In something like Infinity War everything feels grounded and you know there is something to be lost.
One cause for excitement is the mid credits cut scene. I obviously won’t spoil it, but it’s sure to excite a few people. Be sure to leave after that though as there isn’t another cut scene at the end!
I like Tom Hardy, and I like the venom character, and specifically this take on it, I just don’t think it’s quite hit the nail on the head of selling this film yet. I wonder if a series might work better or if it just needs to find its groove. I hope it does because the characters work and they’re funny, they just don’t feel exciting at the moment.
