Sony has been pretty adamant about having a Spider-Man franchise without Spider-Man. They’ve been making all these films based on different Spider-Man characters and hoping that something sticks. Earlier this year, they tried with Madame Web (which was god-awful), and they have Kraven the Hunter dropping in a few weeks. But so far, only one film series from this Spider-less universe has had any legs: Venom.
The Tom Hardy-led Venom films have been the one constant for Sony over the last several years, but now it’s all coming to an end with the final film in the trilogy, Venom: The Last Dance. But is this a fitting ending to this trilogy, or is it another Madame Web? Let’s find out!
Venom: The Last Dance picks up right where we left Venom at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, with him sitting in a bar in Mexico. After being thrown back into their universe, Eddie and Venom realise they are no longer safe in Mexico as news of their less-than-legal escapades in the previous film has reached the country. With little choice in the matter, the duo set out to clear Eddie’s name and rebuild his life. But it’s never that simple because the creator of the Symbiotes, Knull (Andy Serkis), has sent his minions to Earth to find a Codex that can free him from his prison. And guess who has the Codex? Spoiler: it’s Venom. Now on the run from the cops, an evil alien psychopath, and a government task force dedicated to studying Symbiotes, Eddie and Venom are in for one massive last adventure.
The plot of this film was interesting, but unfortunately, it ended up being a bit of a letdown. While it was cool to have a film where Eddie and Venom are on the run from all manner of government agencies and an evil space god, the execution didn’t quite land for me. For starters, things happen in the story with little to no reason. It felt like one thing happened, and then the next thing happened, instead of the two events connecting in any meaningful way. It’s almost like they cut any scene that didn’t either have a big action moment, lore dump, or bonding between Eddie and Venom. It made the film feel slightly disjointed but also incomplete. After the credits rolled, it felt like a whole third act was missing. The ending, while emotional, felt like the end of a second act, with the real villain yet to be introduced.
Speaking of the villain, Knull was barely in the film. He shows up at the beginning and the end and is referenced once or twice; that’s it. The villains, for the majority of the film, are his minions, who are tracking Venom. These aliens are dangerous and do look cool, but they lack any character that would make them compelling in the slightest. They’re just goons with no character. And this wouldn’t be that bad, except this is the end of a trilogy, and they used it to set up a big bad that may or may not ever get their time in the spotlight. I may look back on this story a bit more fondly if future films build off this introduction to Knull, but we’ll have to wait and see.
While I had a lot of issues with the plot of this film, I had no problems whatsoever with the characters of Eddie and Venom. Their relationship has always been a key part of this trilogy, and this is probably the best it’s been on screen. They banter like an old married couple and have this underlying respect for one another, which shows throughout the film. Tom Hardy has killed it as Eddie and Venom throughout the trilogy, and this is his best outing yet. I especially enjoyed the moments when the two had heart-to-heart talks about what they’ve been through and their dreams and goals for the future. It’s heartwarming and makes it feel like these two have come to truly depend on each other in their lives, and losing each other would be similar to losing a limb or worse. I hope that Hardy can continue this role in some way, shape, or form in the future because he’s made for it.
Compared to Eddie and Venom, the rest of the characters seem underdeveloped. That’s not to say the performances were bad; it was quite the opposite, in fact. Every member of this cast did great with what they were given and delivered on the performance side. A notable standout for me was Chiwetel Ejiofor as Rex Strickland, who, in his minimal screen time, is able to make you root for him ever so slightly. I also enjoyed seeing Cristo Fernandez return as the bartender from No Way Home just because he’s just a joy to watch. Other characters like Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) and the hippie family did their job but felt like they were there just to push the plot forward and little else. It is a solid cast overall that was let down by a weak story.
Throughout this Venom trilogy, the visuals have ranged from good to great, and that’s no different here. Venom looks great, even if he isn’t shown on screen for long. The other Symbiotes in the film also look pretty cool, with Toxin and Lasher being my favourites, aside from Venom himself. The alien goons (known as Xenophages) had cool designs and didn’t look too out of place alongside the actors (a problem that certain other projects have). The action scenes looked good, and the Venom horse was a neat idea with some funny moments. There were one or two moments where the CGI looked a little funky, but nothing that took me out of the film. Knull’s prison, for example, was a bit of a CGI mess, but I think that was the point, so it also didn’t bug me.
What did bug me were some of the songs used throughout the film. Like almost every big superhero film, songs from the 70s and 80s are interjected throughout the film to mix things up. And while the songs selected weren’t bad, they’re also the same ones every film uses. I know this is a major nitpick on my part, but for once, can we please use a different era of music in these films? Maybe throw in some early 2000s tracks or maybe even some 2010s beats. I just think if I have to hear ABBA or Queen one more bloody time in one of these films, I’ll rip my ears off.
Venom: The Last Dance is a decent final chapter in the Venom trilogy. While the story is lacklustre, with pacing issues and a major villain problem, the relationship between Eddie and Venom is so good that I can overlook some of those flaws. The rest of the cast does a good job with what they’re given, and visually the film looks on par and sometimes better than the first two films. If this is truly the last we see of Tom Hardy’s Venom, he at least went out on a decent note.
Have you seen Venom: The Last Dance? What did you think? Were you happy with the ending? Let us know in the comments where we can talk all things Venom.
