They may tell themselves they’ve achieved an uneasy détente since the original “Venom” from 2018. They may get testy with each other and argue over who’s really in charge. But eventually, surprisingly, they reveal a genuine, emotional connection as they come to the shared realization that they’re actually better together.
This is not a spoiler! Video messages before a recent screening from Hardy and director Andy Serkis admonished us all not to divulge any juicy revelations (which, come on Sony, we as journalists wouldn’t do anyway). However, you must stay through the credits, because some truly mind-blowing developments occur that you’ll definitely want to see.
It may sound insane to ponder notions like vulnerability and tenderness given that we’re talking about a movie in which a preening alien lives inside an intrepid reporter, bickering and bantering with him in the growl of a diabolical Cookie Monster (also Hardy, having a ball). Sure, Venom is constantly grousing about how he doesn’t get to bust out enough and eat people, and that a diet of chickens and chocolate provides insufficient sustenance. He’s often the voice of Eddie’s fears and insecurities (“Just leave me alone, you’re always nitpicking!” Eddie complains), but he’s also Eddie’s chief cheerleader, encouraging him to reconcile with Williams’ Anne, who’s now engaged to the far more suitable Dr. Dan Lewis (Reid Scott). He is the little voice inside all of us, writ large.
But silliness was the first film’s strength, which everyone involved seems to have realized and leaned into hard for the follow-up. The character of Carnage literally bellows: “Let ... there ... be ... Carnage!” at which point viewers around the world will have to take a drink. Under director Serkis, taking over for Ruben Fleischer, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is zippy and breezy. It’s not about the world ending, as is so often the case in comic-book extravaganzas, and it’s only sort of about one man’s struggle with his own literal and figurative demons. Besides giving a gung-ho physical performance, Hardy shares story-by credit with returning screenwriter Kelly Marcel—who, by the way, was wise enough to mine “Fifty Shades of Grey” for its inherent, absurd humor. While the bondage gear here may seem appropriate, “Venom” offers a very different kind of complicated, intimate relationship.
This time, Eddie has a chance to reign supreme once again over San Francisco journalism (such a quaint notion, that people actually read newspapers and follow specific reporters) by securing an interview with convicted killer Cletus Kasady (a scenery-chewing Harrelson), who’s about to be executed at San Quentin State Prison. But because Eddie’s reporting led to Cletus’ lethal injection, a physical clash occurs between the two men that includes some bloodshed—and the transfer of a few drops of symbiote material. As if we needed more reasons to stay six feet apart.
Cletus’ transformation into the red-hued Carnage—a larger, fiercer, and more weaponized version of Venom—is a frenzy of sound and fury. It’s also the first sign that the action in this sequel isn’t going to be nearly as compelling as the comedy. But at least you can actually see what’s happening more clearly than you could in the original film, thanks to the work of Robert Richardson, a three-time Oscar winner and Martin Scorsese’s frequent cinematographer (“Casino,” “The Aviator,” “Shine a Light”). The first “Venom” also featured the work of a true artist in but so many of those giant set pieces took place in the dark, at night, that it was often hard to tell who was doing what to whom. Here, it still gets a tad murky—particularly during a nighttime showdown outside a school for troubled children—but overall, the action is vivid. (Richardson is also an amusing choice, given Scorsese’s scandalous comments about whether Marvel movies are cinema. The director of photography apparently thinks they are.)
There’s never a moment or sequence in which Cletus marvels at his shocking, newfound abilities, which seems like a missing piece. Rather, he immediately wears Carnage around like a tailor-made suit, as if he were born that way. And his first order of business is to retrieve the woman he loves from a high-tech lock-up, Harris’ Frances Barrison, better known as Shriek for her ear-splitting vocal abilities. In a clever twist, such startlingly loud noises also weaken Venom and Carnage—although for some reason, the two symbiotes can howl at each other during battle like kaiju stomping across Tokyo and that doesn’t harm them. Maybe it’s a different pitch or frequency or something. Regardless, Cletus’ reunion with the woman he’s loved since childhood, as we see in a flashback, is never as interesting as the repercussions of Eddie’s ever-changing relationship with Venom. The film’s highlight is Venom’s solo trip to a Halloween rave, where he’s the hit of the party in what everyone assumes is an elaborate costume. There’s also a fantastic, smaller bit involving convenience store owner Mrs. Chen, played with expert timing and technique by Peggy Lu.
But what both of these scenes reveal is the softer, sweeter side of this symbiote, and the unexpected affect he’s had on people beyond just Eddie. They hit harder than the grandiose moments in which the giant black and red blobs hurl themselves at each other in mid-air. But don’t get too comfortable with the idea of a cuddly, cozy Venom. As the end credits remind us, there are always more movies in store.
Review:-
What’s Good: The problematic relationship between Eddie & Venom has become mature (and fun), by being almost 40 minutes shorter than the prequel it shows how you should end it soon if you know you’re not going to make it
What’s Bad: Makers not only fail to understand the true strength of the film but also keep adding more generic superhero clutter to the mix
Loo Break: It’s just 97 minutes, you’ll hold it!
Watch or Not?: Despite hating the first one, it made $800 million at the box office & even this one is 84% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes so who even am I to suggest anything to you?
Available On: Theatrical Release
Runtime: 97 minutes
User Rating:
Venom & Eddie (both Tom Hardy) continue their ‘symbiotic’ relationship after creating the base for it in the first part. Imagine if somehow Charizard goes into Ash calling themselves as ‘lethal protectors’, that’s how Eddie & Venom are. Trying to pick up his scattered life, Eddie approaches to interview the serial-killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), from his prior interview. This, of course, wouldn’t go well because plot point, and also how the hell else will Cletus turn into the Carnage?
That happens and Cletus reunites with his old love interest, who has a superpower to torture people with her screams (nope, we aren’t talking about Dolly Bindra), Frances Barrison AKA Shriek (Naomi Harris). With two threesomes in the story including Venom-Eddie-Anne (Michelle Williams) and Cletus-Carnage-Shriek, we see how they try to end each other just because one psychotic serial killer had the fetish of biting people to taste their blood.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage Movie Review: Script Analysis
So, the makers decide to title the film ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ but the protagonist is on the mission ‘Let There Be No Carnage’ throughout (The above joke is purely for them who understand what sense of humour is. No personal attac.) Tom Hardy & Kelly Marcel’s story offers what every generic sequel pretends to such as a better story, better performances, a better title but are they really worth it? (ahem… Men in Black: International …ahem). This one tries to convert the dumb bromance between Eddie & Venom from part 1 to a Deadpool-Wilson-like (minus the fourth-wall fabulous funk) camaraderie with some at-your-face humour.
Kelly Marcel’s screenplay is more polished this time around with and that’s majorly because of the developed (and improved) relationship between the leading bros. My problem with its prequel was they didn’t develop Eddie-Venom too good too soon, makers heard making the duo extremely likeable in this one along with introducing a new problem. Trying to give Carnage equal importance as Venom appears as a speed-breaker in this one. It’s like having so much fun one moment immediately followed by too much generic ‘superhero movies’ BS.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage Movie Review: Star Performance
This film is that part of the franchise where you start to fall for the leading character as it answers my doubt of “Why Tom Hardy for this?” He’s no more just an adorable loser as he has a venomous friend who now has his back against everyone. Despite being a ‘superhero’, Hardy manages to underplay an underdog with crowning charm. There’s nothing ‘heroic’ about him and that’s his intriguing superpower (apart from a deadly creature living inside him who wants to eat everything it sees).
Michelle Williams’ contribution to the story declines from what she did in the prequel. She’s reduced to being Eddie’s love story and is handled important sequences only to let Eddie emerge as the champion. Michelle’s Anne has left with low to no voice suffering from a weak character sketch.
Give Woody Harrelson any character & he’ll play it like he’s hunting for acting awards. Despite all the flaws, Harrelson rises and shines by just being a psycho killer. His character turns out to be one you’d like to see in another more detailed film. Naomie Harris’s Shriek adds too much noise to the already chaotic narrative. She’s good, character’s not.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage Movie Review: Direction, Music
Andy Serkis has made movies like Breathe (Andrew Garfield) & Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle before but this is the first time he’s stepping in this particular zone. The wobbly narrative does add some hiccups to the direction but Serkis tries to hold his ground using the Eddie-Venom trump card designing at least some things to hold you back.
Marco Beltrami is no ‘Logan‘ or even ‘The Wolverine’ good here but he just gets the work done. Louis Armstrong’s Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off is brutally murdered in a scene that never justifies the use of the song proving why everyone just can’t be When Harry Met Sally.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage Movie Review: The Last Word
All said and done, this feels like a step in the right direction but the problem is it’s moving too slowly. The post-credit sequence does create enough excitement for the next part but it’ll still need a whole lot of revamping.
Two and a half stars! (Half better than the last one. At this speed, I’ll be rating Venom 5 with 4 stars)
Venom: Let There Be Carnage Story: Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) must find a way to stop serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) after the latter gets infected with the Carnage symbiote.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage Review: Reluctantly accepting his fate, Eddie Brock tries to co-exist with Venom. However, it's a rocky relationship, to say the least. Brock also attempts to revive his career by interviewing Cletus Kasady, a serial killer who doesn't trust anyone else. But things go wrong when Cletus also gets infected with a deadly and bloodthirsty symbiote. Brock must quickly find a way to work with Venom and deal with the Carnage brought on by Kasady.
Although the plot is pretty straightforward for a comic-book flick, the banter between Brock and Venom is often the film's most fascinating element. Brock is constantly trying to quench Venom's thirst for, well, brains, leading to some amusing exchanges – even if the humour won't necessarily satisfy everyone's taste. Nevertheless, Tom Hardy's performance with the CGI character carries the film through some rough patches. Like Hardy, Woody Harrelson fully embraces the film's quirky, often absurd tonality and certainly enjoys playing the antagonist. Together, they make some of the apparent plot holes easier to ignore.
Learning from its predecessor's mistakes, the runtime is certainly breezy at an hour and a half. But this does a disservice to its secondary characters Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), Francis Barrison (Naomie Harris) and Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham). They have potentially intriguing roles but don't get much development beyond some hasty plot beats and they end up being the story's weakest links. In addition, the editing is slightly jumpy in places, indicative of significant trimming, although this isn't entirely distracting.
The third act is definitely satisfying once the two sentient aliens finally battle it out. There's a substantially marked improvement in the CGI over the first film, as the experience of director Andy Serkis clearly comes in handy. The action is easy to follow and looks great in 3D without being overbearing. While the film meets the basic requirements for comic-book movie enjoyment, its most essential sequence is the post-credit scene that raises the bar for the Venom character. Not only does it change the scope for where he and Eddie Brock will show up next, but it also makes this problematic yet oddly entertaining sequel more than worthwhile.
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