Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) Review

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) Review

Dir. Andy Serkis 

 

Short and sweet, shallow but luckily not shambolic.

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Venom Let There Be Carnage is a straight sequel to Sony’s 2018 comic book adventure, which stars Tom Hardy as Reporter Eddie Brock. Brock’s combination with an alien symbiote named venom leads to the character’s anti heroic vigilante career. In the new film, directed by effects actor extraordinaire Andy Serkis, Venom’s arch enemy and spawn Carnage bonds itself onto the insane serial killer Cletus Kassady; played by woody Harrelson in a comfortably psychopathic performance. 

 

The resultant film is a brisk 90 minutes, a welcome change from the ever extending run times of recent blockbusters; which sometimes find themselves padding out to match other movies’ 2.5 hour length. While refreshingly short, the film does feel as rushed as you’d expect narratively.

 

Upping the comedy to the max, Venom 2 is close to absurdist parody, almost entirely self aware with its silliness. This isn’t a problem, as the film feels like a relic of a bygone time in superhero cinema- a throwback to the days when superhero films came and went quietly for a fun brief stay. 

 

Hardy carries the film, often acting huge chunks purely on his own, arguing with himself. It’s a commendable performance, but his character does still feel slightly underwritten regardless. Woody Harrelson, while recycling his persona from Natural Born Killers, does the part justice. The special effects for the two monster aliens is impressive stuff too. 

 

That being said, the narrative pacing and editing of the finished film is often underwhelming and lacking. Scenes transition oddly, with often badly dubbed ADR disguising the seams loosely. Sometimes it feels like whole segments are missing, possibly removed for swiftness by an eager Sony production team. 

 

It’s certainly no masterpiece. While Venom’s capacity to capture the comics isn’t stunted (the characterisation of Carnage and Venom are reminiscent of their original 90s comics counterparts), the overall tone of the film is erratic. It shifts from action drama with a disturbing serial killer to laugh out loud comedy all too fleetingly. While this could work in a film with more attention to detail, it doesn’t pay off here, and leaves the viewer feeling slightly unbalanced. The comedy is funny, the horror unsettling, but the two don’t really blend as well as the film thinks. 

 

All in all Venom 2 is a fun popcorn flick, but nothing more. I’m all for the comedic angle and approach, but this time it feels slightly at war with itself. While it’s fun in the moment, and certainly full of action beats, the rushed plot leaves no real lasting imprint on audiences, making for a rather forgettable experience. That being said, the final scene of the film is worth sticking around for, and has understandably completely overshadowed the film that precedes it. 

 

6/10 

Review by Elliott Thomas Griffiths