Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Details: MPAA Rating: PG-13

Cast: Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris

Release Date: October 1, 2021

Pros: I, contrary to the opinion of others, actually enjoyed the first Venom. It was silly, fun, the action was good, and it was all around an entertaining time. Needless to say, when I heard that Venom 2 was going to introduce Woody Harrelson, one of my favorite actors, as Carnage, one of my favorite villains, my expectations were pretty high. Unfortunately, they were not met in the slightest. In terms of the little positives I can say about this movie, Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom were once again the funniest characters in the movie. Let There Be Carnage takes a deeper dive into Eddie and Venom's relationship providing for multiple comedic bits throughout the movie. It did provide some emotion but not as much depth of emotion as the movie was hoping. Essentially w the conclusion I, as well as the movie, seemed to reach was that Venom and Eddie are an old married couple who both are definitely in love with each other. Also, Carnage was pretty cool. Other than that, the only other major pro of the movie was the post-credit scene. Without spoiling anything, this post-credit scene was one of the bests I've ever seen and its implications throughout the superhero world are some that will definitely be felt and one that I'm excited to explore.

Cons: Yeesh where do I even start? When the promotion of the movie, the title of the movie, and the trailers of the movie, all indicate that the main conflict of the movie is Venom vs Carnage, I expect there to be more than one fight between the two of them. Unfortunately, throughout the entirety of the film, it felt as though there were two sub-movies occurring. The first involves Venom and Eddie. This sub-movie is more of a rom-com in which they break up, realize how much they need each other, and then get back together again. There's a point in the movie where Venom literally admits to Eddie that he loves him and I had to laugh because that really just solidified my theory that these two are gonna get married in Venom 3. The Venom+Eddie sub-plot is relatively funny but gets rid of much of what I loved in the first movie. Characters such as Annie are pushed to the background and the Venom-Eddie dynamic is not explored through the lens of those around them which is what made the first movie so great. The second sub-movie is Woody Harrelson and Carnage reuniting with Harrelson's character's long-lost love. This sub-plot pretty much is Carnage and Shriek killing a bunch of people for no reason. The movie tries to get the audience to sympathize a little with the two psychopaths' backstory but really it ends up failing and the audience doesn't care at all about either of these two characters. The culmination of the two sub-movies collides in the third act which is the only major fight scene in the movie and was honestly a let-down. Don't get me wrong, there were for sure a few cool moments here and there but overall it really seemed rushed, and I think that's where the major problem of the movie lies. In a 90 minute long run time, the director has to fit a lot in a short time frame that is engaging, makes sense, and feels fleshed out. The movie fails to do this on all accounts. It feels very rushed with subplots that aren't cohesive, characters who we don't care about, and overall, a disappointing movie. Oh, shoot, as I was writing about this review I completely forgot about this detective character that's introduced in the movie who was pretty important yet was very forgettable. So forgettable that I literally forgot about him as I was writing this review a few hours after seeing the movie.

Star Rating: 4/10

Final Thoughts: While some may find Venom: Let There Be Carnage, entertaining, it seems to be a rushed film filled with a few funny moments here and there but overall won't last in anyone's memory 24 hours after watching it.