(Photo courtesy of IMDB) “Venom: The Last Dance fails to live up to expectations.”
Jesse Nguyen
Connector Editor
“Venom: The Last Dance” is the third and final installment in the “Venom” film series. It is a PG-13 action sci-fi film released on Oct. 24, 2024, starring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and his trusty friend, the Venom symbiote. Pushing the boundaries of its PG-13 rating, the film offers excellent action sequences but falls short in tone and strengthening Eddie and Venom’s relationship.
The film’s opening scene introduces a new villain, Knull, the God of Symbiotes. His dramatic introduction sets up the premise of the movie. Eddie and Venom are currently fugitives, hunted not only by humans but also by Xenophages, highly mobile and durable aliens sent by Knull. Although the Xenophages weren’t nearly as interesting as Carnage or Riot in the previous films, they were certainly formidable. They offered a new level of stakes for our symbiotic duo. Scenes with the Xenophages are unexpectedly violent and gruesome, displaying excellent CGI visuals that highlight their incredible physical prowess.
“Venom: The Last Dance” improves on an aspect of the first two films, the lighting. In the previous two films, most scenes took place at night, often blending Venom in the background. Venom in this film however has many action sequences in broad daylight, and even in the third act that takes place at night, the lighting is strong enough to make every character stand out. Such a simple change makes Venom more visually appealing than ever before.
Unfortunately, that’s where improvements stop. The film splits your attention into two halves: Eddie with Venom, and lead scientists investigating the symbiotes. The inclusion of Dr. Payne, played by Juno Temple, feels more like a device used to dump expository information rather than an actual fleshed-out character. While her role in the story is essential to provide context, every scene with her and the lab scientists felt like it was stealing Eddie and Venom’s screentime in favor of excessive lore and worldbuilding. The decision to use Knull as the
primary antagonist, whose threat level is intergalactic in scale, feels out of place for Venom, who usually deals with street-level psychopaths and criminals.
The film completely turns itself on its side with a tone wildly different from its predecessors. It is noticeably clear while watching that there seemed to be a sense of directionless for Venom, and it certainly showed itself in the final act. Many plot holes are present in the film, and while some are minor, others are so large its hard to ignore them.
Luckily, Tom Hardy does not disappoint as Eddie Brock. He acts with the same paranoid, jittery physicality that makes his scenes so enthralling, there’s just not enough of him in this film. The inclusion of Knull distracts so much from Eddie and Venom bonding further and it is frustrating to see how their chemistry was sacrificed for a grandiose finale. Even with these lows, the film still manages to pull heartstrings, especially for fans who care about the duo. It is immediately offset however by a weak ending, and the inclusion of “Memories” by Maaron 5 felt out of place and borderline cringy.
“Venom: The Last Dance” falls in line with its predecessors where it’s bad but entertaining. This time however, the film favors seriousness a little too much, and shoehorns a plot that simply doesn’t work for Venom. The film simply fails to make the duo’s relationship more meaningful and instead opts to treat their relationship like a joke. Regardless, Tom Hardy’s performance as both Eddie Brock and Venom is a joy to watch and remains possibly the greatest thing about this film, even if it was poorly handled.
Overall Grade: C+
