‘We are…FUGITIVES!’ Venom: Let There Be Carnage Review
[Editor’s Note: SPOILERS!] With space symbiote Venom and journalist Eddie Brock stuck together following the events of 2018’s “Venom,” they must learn to coexist. During their relationship issues, Brock and Venom unknowingly create one of the most dangerous and violent Marvel Comics villains ever: Carnage.
“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” still provided by Sony Pictures
Baring his tendrils…Carnage, played by Woody Harrelson, stands ready for battle against Venom, played by Tom Hardy, on the pues of a church in San Francisco. This was Tom Hardy’s second time playing the titular character Venom/Eddie Brock.
Symbiotes, decapitations, relationship issues; So many plot points, so little time.
“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is pretty much the preceding movie on steroids, in both the good and bad ways.
Let’s start with the positives
by saying the acting was very fun to watch and helped save this movie from the garbage can.
Put any other two actors in the roles of Eddie Brock and Cletus Kasady and this movie would have fallen flat.
The buddy-cop/rom-com aspect of Brock and Venoms’ relationship throughout the film is easily enjoyable and genuinely funny at times.
Although overused at some points of the story, the banter between the two characters are really what keeps this movie from taking itself too seriously, which is what 2018’s “Venom” did.
Another positive was the after-credits scene.
Hands down the best and most hype after credits scene on par with “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” “Iron Man” and “Avengers.’
The humor in this movie was a positive for the most part. Although in some instances the humor might’ve been too much (pushing the purposeful campiness a little bit too far), overall the comedic timing in this movie was very good, mostly between Eddie and Venom.
Other characters like Eddie’s ex-fiance, Anne, also had some comedic scenes that landed well, like how she could always tell when Venom was inside somebody without any dead giveaways, almost like a sixth sense.
Now onto the negatives.
The writing, character arcs, and motives, in general, were a strong negative.
Everything about this movie was either basic or just bad.
There were some original ideas and creative references to unpopular or controversial moments from the comic books but nothing spectacular enough to save this movie where it fails.
The future of Venom as a character is very “in-limbo” right now based on the after-credit scene.
The final spoiler warning is right here because if you haven’t seen this movie yet, this after credit scene is going to blow your mind.
The after credit scene shows Eddie Brock and Venom being transported to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) reporting from the DailyBugle.Net about Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and his identity being revealed in the same moment that “Spider-Man: Far From Home” ends.
This means that for the time being, Tom Hardy’s Venom is in fact in the MCU and will either make an appearance in the upcoming “Spider-Man: No Way Home” or audiences will have to wait until “Venom 3” to see the titular character return to the silver screen.
Final thoughts/Overall Score: 6/10
Writing: 3/10
Acting: 8/10
Directing: 6/10
Pacing: 6/10
Creativity: 7/10
Soundtrack: 6/10
Character Arcs: 3/10
Animation/CGI: 8/10
After Credits Scene: ∞/10
Overhyped: Underhyped.
Is it bad? Yes. Was it meant to be?
Probably. Is it a quick, funny and action-packed superhero movie? Yes.
So go in with the mindset of “This is going to be fun.”
Should you watch it?: If you possibly want to understand the next few movies and can enjoy a (hopefully) purposefully bad-ish movie, turn your brain off and enjoy this buddy-cop, rom-com, alien-horror, superhero movie.
