When audiences last saw Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy); the journalist and his parasitic symbiote Venom; had just saved the day and cemented their unusual bond with one another.
In the new film “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”; Eddie and Venom are at the end of their Honeymoon phase as Venom is lingering to be free to eat bad people and do what is natural for him. Eddie meanwhile wants a more conservative approach feeding Venom chicken and chocolate as he knows the eyes of the authorities are still upon him and he has to convince the world that Venom is dead and no longer a threat.
At the same time; serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) has selected Eddie to interview him in San Quentin and the two form an unusual connection as Cletus cryptically speaks to Eddie which underlines a deeper motivation.
With the help of Venom; Eddie is able to decipher clues found on the walls of Cletus’s cell which leads authorities to several of his victims. This results in a rapid rise in status for Eddie and fast tracks Cletus for execution as his main means of leverage is now gone.
This leads to a rift where Eddie and Venom split and each has to struggle to adjust to life without one another.
At this point, the film has mainly been odd bits of whimsy between Venom and Eddie around the establishment of the plot and threat. However, things go into chaos mode when Cletus becomes infected with a Symbiote and turns into a destruction spewing death machine known as “Carnage”.
Cletus and Carnage both have their own agendas and Cletus uses Carnage to exact his revenge as well as locate a figure from his past that is as big a danger as he is.
As any fan of films of this genre knows; this scenario leads to a showdown between the central characters which are awash in abundant CGI, loud noises, and destruction. While this is not a bad thing and certainly one of the main reasons I enjoy films of this type; the film never seemed to fully click for me and as such was not as good as I thought it could have been.
In many ways, the film reminded me of how comic-based films were done before Marvel started their own studios and their phenomenal run of hits based on their work.
There have been multiple attempts to adapt comics into films over the last few decades and many of them have not lived up to expectations or failed outright. One of the biggest reasons is in my opinion is that those behind the projects were hindered by the studio, wanted to put their own spin on the material and strayed from the source; or failed to show the attributes that made the characters so appealing to fans.
What we often get is action sequences and CGI galore but without stories or characters that fully draw in the audience and fail to capture the essence of the comics.
Director Andy Serkis has done a great job with the visuals of the film but the tone seems off. The early part of the film is filled with comedic moments that are either hit or miss. Some of which was almost to the point where I wondered if it was supposed to be a parody.
The plot is fairly linear with nothing unexpected as it is simply bad guys get loose; bad guys cause death and destruction, can the heroes stop them. The climactic scene lacks any “wow” moments for me as it was mainly CGI characters rapidly moving around causing damage to one another and their environment. There was no real tension for me and the ultimate resolution seemed a bit anti-climactic.
For me the best moment of the film was a mid-credits scene that really popped as it sets up all sorts of interesting options and indicates that Venom may be about to graduate to bigger and better things.
For now; the cast is solid as is the CGI; I just wish the story was more engaging as it had the potential to be so much more.
3 stars out of 5
RADIO1'S MR. MOVIE!-MAD AMI 🌠
**Yes . . . This Is A Big Fun Film, Period. But Given Cletus's BARBARIC Convenience Store Murder~
{ A L O N E❗} How Is It Rated "PG13" Or Below 😲 . . . IN -{ THESE }- MANY DARN COUNTRIES❓**
A **-{ _B I G_ }-** Screen **MINI** Review ; Film Seen By Me -{ Twice }- ; First On Oct.20, And Then Nov. 04, '21.
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Venom : "Time to die!!!" ( said by him as he and Eddie verge on a full on "War-charge" of the -genuinely- "Terrifying" looking Carnage ).
Eddie : " That’s the spirit ! ! "
Venom : "I mean us. **-{ W E }-** are going to die!!!".
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**A " UPSIDES-1ST, If You Please { I write " Exclusively Constructive ✅ " Reviews ; Here're Some Of The Movie's Plus-Points, Right Up Front } " :** 1 : There's a LOT of -Very- entertaining humour right the way through "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" ( to be referred to henceforth as 'V2' ) . . . . from 'Eddie Brock' ( Tom Hardy )'s "Odd Couple" style interactions with 'Venom' ( also played by -Him- , of course ) . . . . to some often tender, and occasionally even genuinely -Moving- banter, within the undeniably funny **"Love-quadrangle"** of Eddie and Venom , along with 'Anne Weying' and 'Dr. Dan Lewis' ( Michelle Wiilliams and Reid Scott, respectively ). 2 : Tom Hardy succeeds **-Phenomenally-** , in delivering his "super-symbiotic" performance ; with an -{ ABSOLUTE }- degree of credibility. How I wish more people would only appreciate how **( -Incredibly- )** difficult it is to emote for two -very- different entities, -near- simultaneously, that exist within just -{ ONE SINGLE }- body. 3 : Venom's "Mardi-Gras Themed Nightclub Scene". Simply stated, it's just absofreakinglutely -{ H I 💥 😂 - larious }. What's more, if you're a -passionate- progressive ( in real life ), like me, then you are almost -certain- to completely -{ Adore }- the 'horrible yet affable' Antihero's -equally- passionate appeal to stop "Cruelty Against **ALIENS**" . . . just a 'Glorious', ( albeit somewhat implicit ) message about the need to be -'Kinder'- to immigrants, documented or otherwise, delivered just -as- 'Gloriously' . . . ( Need I really say more ? ).
**B " ( _PLEASE_ ) , Let There Be Common Sense ! " :** 1 : There are some -{ Extreme }- abuse & violence related thematic elements in a film that is rated 'PG-13' ( Or Below ! ) in at least -Fifteen- countries, & that's -just- on IMDb's -very limited- "Certications" list, -{ ALONE ! }- . 2 : In a nutshell : the ( entirety ) of the -Story- , per se , feels a little too **-{ " SIMPLISTIC 🤷♂️ " }-** ; not to mention the picture's almost -{ "Confoundingly" }- short, & somewhat "Disappointing", frankly, runtime of 97 minutes ; for what is essentially a -{ MARVEL }- cinematic offering. So here is perhaps -{ The }- most significant reason for -Why- that was the case, in my best estimation. Tom Hardy and Kelly Marcel, V2's storywriters . . . . -{ collectively }- lacked the requisite experience to rise to the indubitably -gargantuan- task of ( -Adequately- ) enthralling a whole -Planet- ; one that has now become -Altogether- used to watching 'PHENOMENALLY' entertaining Marvel fare, and there's really no other way to say it. Tom, ( whom I 'Admire To Death' as a -performer- , I definitely ought to point out here ), had only two✌ **-STORY-** writing credits to his name prior to V2 , with Kelly logging just three👌 . . . { counting 'Individual' TV Series, but -Not- counting 'Shorts' ( short films ), of course }. 3 : A " MASSIVE " Missed Opportunity : It is -indeed- not all that often that we see a quintessential 'Popcorn-blockbuster' flick make a -significant- effort to -Humanize- the villain by way of their -{ Early Childhood Experiences }- , no matter -how- evil they nay be shown as being. For V2 to first -very- SUCCESSFULLY achieve this with the "Supremely" prolific actor Woody Harrelson's 'Carnage' ...( finalé )... only to have said moment -Utterly- invalidated just a few cinematic beats later ( -you'll know when you see it- ) was quite the let down, 'Alas' 😔
**C " FINAL SUMMARY " :** I have absolutely -{ N O }- doubt in my mind that had V2 been roughly 'a good 23 minutes' longer ( -At Least- , in order to make for a more "Marvel-like" runtime of Two-full-hours ) ; that I would have given it a mimimum score of '8 out of 10', without a moment's thought. -That- , in addition of course, to my "Titular-gripe" . . . ( me being the -Doting- parent that I like to think I am ), brings me to the conclusion that this -nonetheless- **{ Undeniably }** Fun, Exciting, "Idiosyncratic Delight" of a Movie is -Still- most definitely worthy of -{ 7.50 'Rock-Solid' Marks Out Of 10 }- **. . . . NOTWITHSTANDING 🔥**
I liked it very much, so I add my top ten to the already existing positive reviews. The film is great in its genre. After the first viewing, it seemed to me that the second film would be stronger than the first. Duo Hardy-Harrelson = aerobatics. In the end, from the abundance of excellent jokes, my facial muscles ached (by the way, special thanks to the translators for the texts). I'm waiting for the continuation, it's very interesting to know what other capabilities Venom will demonstrate.
