(Content warning: The review contains spoilers).
Beleaguered journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and anti-hero Venom have entertained fans with their ride-or-die friendship since the first “Venom” movie in 2018.
In “Venom: The Last Dance,” the inseparable Marvel duo proves that their banter and series of misadventures make up for the dull developments in the final sequence.
Directed by Kelly Marcel, the third film picks up immediately after the events of its sequel, with Eddie and Venom who are now fugitives being accused of murdering detective Patrick Mulligan. It then proceeds with Knull, an all-powerful deity responsible for creating Venom and the other symbiotes, who ordered terrifying alien creatures to hunt down the two and eventually conquer the world.
Hiding from authorities and the creatures chasing after them, Eddie and Venom become stranded in the middle of a desert and soon meet a carefree alien conspiracist family headed by Rhys Ifans who was able to complement the main duo’s chaotic energy.
The audience may think that the invincible Knull would suffice as the main cause of conflict.
However, the film’s downside started to emerge when it decided to add surface-level side characters, some of whom are military leader Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and scientist Dr. Payne (Juno Temple), both working under the government to conduct controversial tests on aliens.
While EJiofor and Temple are generally qualified actors, their presence in the film did not do much of anything other than a clichè military operation called Area 51 that villainizes the lead characters’ heroic mission, which ruined the film’s overall momentum.
What saved the film from a snooze fest is Eddie and Venom’s Las Vegas escapade, focusing on their thrilling disguises, exhilarating gambling indulgence and wacky dance musical numbers. But all of the scenes are shortly cut off to boring debates among the members of Area 51, making it seem like Eddie and Venom merely served as afterthoughts to the main plot.
Towards the climax, the entangled battle of the iconic duo against the military and the lethal aliens was stunningly overpowered by a badass performance by Clark Backo, who plays Payne’s lab colleague Sadie, after she transformed into a symbiote to defeat its kind.
As expected, Eddie and Venom continue to amuse the audience to the best of their abilities up until the last. But other than that, the final franchise failed to interweave action and comedy and instead split them up into incohesive chunks.
The Columbia Pictures film arrived in local theaters on October 23.
