by With the exception of James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ trilogy, few Marvel-based superhero films in recent memory have cultivated the evil charm, gallows humor and delirious fun as the three ‘Venom’ films and the final triumphant entry:’ Venom: The Last Dance,” does not disappoint in any way.
Much of the credit for the success of this third and final installment of the “Venom” trilogy goes to first-time director Kelly Marcel, who handles this $120 million production like a seasoned pro.
Marcel, who co-wrote the first 2018 “Venom” film and wrote the 2021 sequel, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” shared screenwriting duties for “The Last Dance” this time with charismatic star Tom Hardy. Together they’ve sent the ravenous symbiote here in style, delivering lively and rollicking entertainment that runs just 109 minutes.
Released last weekend by Sony Pictures and already raking in $175 million worldwide, “Venom: The Last Dance” does exactly what it set out to do, and achieves it with the confidence of knowing what its strengths are and bringing them to “Venom” fans to supply. which may be a little stifled by the film’s ending.
Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple and Rhys Ifans, ‘The Last Dance’ picks up immediately after the events of ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’, as Eddie Brock and his black shape-shifting parasite locate their proper reality in the multiverse, but now discover that they are being tracked down and hunted as fugitives by several hostile parties.
As Commander Rex Strickland, Ejiofor is solid as the gruff and tough military leader of the Imperium, a clandestine government operation whose job is to capture and study invading symbiotes.
Juno Temple, a notable actor in other projects, seems vaguely out of place in this film and completely out of place. Her abrasive presence is often somewhat jarring as scientist Dr. Teddy Payne who deals with symbiote experiments in that underground laboratory beneath the former Area 51 base.
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That minor distraction aside, Hardy is a magnetic force as the British performer reprises his complex role as Eddie Brock, a reluctant host to the wise-cracking, chocolate-munching alien organism. Over the course of the trio of “Venom” films, he has refined his slapstick antics and conflicting emotions to near perfection.
The storyline remains tight and focused and revolves around an old-fashioned road trip where Eddie and Venom are on the run and encounter all kinds of colorful characters along the way. They are also pursued by an alien creature known as a xenophage, a hideous reptilian monster sent forth by an imprisoned evil overlord named Knull, the creator of the symbiotes. Venom is the keeper of something called the codex, which is the key to freeing Knull and as long as Eddie and Venom live, Earth and the universe remain in grave danger of destruction.
Aside from the soggy middle section during the sing-along while riding in a hippie family’s van on the way to Area 51, there are numerous exciting highlights in “The Last Dance,” namely the Venom horse, a dynamic underwater sequence that battles special forces, a funky dance number in a Las Vegas penthouse suite, and a grand finale set on the decommissioned tarmac of Area 51.
“The Last Dance” suffers from the same nagging disease as many Marvel blockbusters, as their villains lack substance. Here, Knull, God of the Symbiotes, remains largely in the shadows, holed up on the planet Klyntar, surrounded by a loyal nest of xenophage beasts, ready for their turn to strike.
Any nemesis relegated to a position of passive involvement is doomed to failure, though a post-credits scene gives us at least a glimpse of his evil face.
As a spin-off from ‘Spider-Man’, this ‘Venom’ trilogy was a brilliant experiment, raising $1.5 billion to date, and this exciting threequel should certainly appeal to fans. When will more symbiotes appear in the MCU? Who knows, but they will reform!
