Films for Breakfast

Out of all the characters in the Marvel catalog, I truly can’t say I ever expected Venom to get his own trilogy of films. It’s not exactly shocking as how this has been Sony’s only real success within their Spider-Man-less universe of Spider-Man villains, between Madame Web and Morbius catastrophically bombing both commercially and critically. But still, if you told me this about 10-years ago it would really surprise me; and I say that as someone who finds the first two films charming in an extremely campy and weightless way. A lot of this is entirely in credit to Tom Hardy’s committed dual performance as Eddie Brock and also his vocal performance as Venom – I really can’t imagine many other actors making this all work with the series’ strange humor and tonal shifts. But Hardy truly is the heart to all of these films, and why I continue to indulge.

In what is being marketed as the final film in the Venom series, The Last Dance picks up in the aftermath of the post credit scenes of Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home, with Eddie and Venom being shot out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and back into the Sony-Verse. Unfortunately for the pair, authorities are still looking to arrest him after his fight with Carnage – this leads the two on a road trip from Mexico to New York City (with many stops along the way) in order to… blend in? Evade arrest? Who knows! It’s so inconsequential and has nothing to do with why people enjoy these films, so why even linger too heavily on the plot mechanics?

Just like the other two films, there are two sides to this film. On the one hand, there are some incredibly clunky and just downright poorly written moments of pure-as-can-be exposition, plot holes galore, unanswered questions, and just downright cringe-worthy moments. On the other hand… and I can’t believe I’m saying this for a third time, Tom Hardy’s performance does so much heavy lifting that I found myself entertaining once again despite how silly and frantic it all is. By this point in the series, I genuinely feel the chemistry between Eddie and Venom and find their banter to be quite charming. If Let There Be Carnage was a fun riff on a break-up film, The Last Dance finds this firmly out of the honeymoon stage and accepting of each others flaws and that they know everything about the other.

The film is at its worst when it’s lingering on its military side-plot or, frankly, cuts to anyone that isn’t Tom Hardy. This isn’t to say that any of these performers we’re cutting to are bad, as actors like Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, and Chiwetel Ejiofor are provenly fantastic actors – but it’s hard watching them work with unnecessary comedic relief or the most blatant exposition you’ve ever heard. As for whatever the film is trying to set-up with the films villain Knull (played by an actor I don’t want to spoil incase you haven’t read about it, because I was surprised when the credits rolled!) – I find it mildly intriguing and found the prologue to be cool, but I am scratching my head a bit at what it is seemingly building up to.

On the flipside to all that, the film is at its best when it fully leans into either the comedy of Venom as a character or even the unhinged action that symbiotes inspire. Where the film did surprise me was within its emotional core by the end. While I doubt this is the last we see of Venom, it really does try to end this trilogy in an emotional way by leaning into why Venom and Eddie need and truly care about each other. This odd sense of sincerity and heart, mixed with the series’ signature slapstick humor and ridiculous action once again makes it entertaining for me.

Will Venom: The Last Dance convert any non-believers who haven’t enjoyed the previous two films? Definitely not. Does it have all the worst elements of the last two still at play? Oh yeah, you could argue the story and writing is even worse at points. However, it’s so weightless in its own adventure and Tom Hardy is so game to the material/character that I find myself once again enjoying the absurdities. In this life, you can either reject Venom dancing to ABBA or embrace it. I suppose I choose the latter.

3/5