Venom: Let There Be Carnage has, like most films of the last 18 months, faced its fair share of setbacks. Across the industry, films have been delayed, temporarily shelved, or released across hybrid models — sometimes to great success, other times not.
Holding out hope, though, Sony held Venom: Let There Be Carnage back until cinemas were open and, finally, its release is upon us. Three years after the first Venom film made everyone look at a tank of lobsters and chuckle, Tom Hardy returned to the screen for an odd-couple antihero caper.
The premise isn’t overly complicated and was at the very least hinted at in Venom’s post-credits scenes, with the reveal of Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady — aka Carnage. The sequel sees Eddie Brock back on the up-and-up after his exposé in the first film saved his reputation.
However, when he’s the only journalist granted access by famed serial killer Cletus Kasady, his and Venom’s lives are turned upside down. Kasady becomes host to another symbiote, and after an escape from prison reunites with his long-lost love Shriek to wreak revenge on those who have wronged them.
Where the first Venom film faltered for many was in its confused tone — a serious antihero film or a comedy caper? Venom: Let There Be Carnage leans heavily into the latter, giving Hardy a chance to go full-on physical comedian with Venom.
Those who were fans of the antics will find Venom: Let There Be Carnage a very funny ride, with plenty of well-delivered one-liners to cause at least a chuckle, if not a guffaw. With Andy Serkis at the helm, the movie makes great use of CGI and movie magic, really allowing Venom to fill the screen with a life of his own, even as he’s tethered to Brock.
In fact, the film is — as they all promised — really a story about two people bound together who don’t always get along. The issue is that they need each other to survive – Venom in a literal way and Brock in an albeit esoteric one, but just as immediate.
These are the best bits of the film, which flies by at a breakneck pace. The downside of the slim runtime and quick pacing is that we don’t get to explore the other pivotal characters, particularly Shriek. Naomie Harris is given a brief backstory, but her actions in the film (which we won’t spoil) hint at a deeply complex and interesting character.
She, however, is sidelined to allow Carnage and Venom to have their superhero-movie-requisite epic big battle. Far less messy than the fight between Venom and Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) in the first film, Venom: Let There Be Carnage has more visibly appealing, and entertaining, action scenes.
We can’t talk about the action without mentioning Harrelson, who has made a name for himself playing off-kilter characters, and it’s hard not to draw parallels between his turn as Kasady and his long-ago role as Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers.
Both are men abused, both tied to dysfunctional love — but for Kasady, he has homicidal desires that in the end triumph over everything else where Brock is self destructive. Here it would have been wonderful to get more exposition, as Kasady taunts Brock — they’re similar, he says, and we know it’s true without being able to see why, the film falling too much into the ‘tell’ side of ‘show and tell.’
We also don’t get enough of Michelle Williams’ She-Venom, nor Stephen Graham’s Detective Mulligan (and as much as we like to discuss Hardy’s voice work, Graham is doing some… interesting things with Mulligan’s accent). If a third film goes ahead (which is likely) we can only hope these two get even more screentime.
As explored in the recently released ‘rave’ scene, Venom: Let There Be Carnage does address deeper personal moments, but these are left to the audience to tease apart, a suitable decision for a film that keeps its runtime under one and a half hours. At its heart, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a story secondary to the relationship between Venom and Brock.
Of course, deep character exploration isn’t necessarily what you want, or expect, when you sit down for a film like Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and it isn’t so much a disappointment in the viewing experience but rather an afterthought of something else that could have been there; a seasoning missed out that doesn’t ruin the dish but could have greatly enhanced it.
Though fans of the first might miss the grittier side of things, Venom: Let There Be Carnage isn’t trying to emulate anything else. It’s not Deadpool, it’s not Joker, and it’s not its predecessor — this makes it both refreshing to watch and still somehow slightly confused, though in a less pronounced way than the 2018 version.
What happens to Brock and Venom when their relationship is tested, not only by forces beyond their control but also by their own worst qualities is the question at the heart of the film, and it’s comically and carefully explored, with some cool stunts along the way. And sometimes that’s exactly what you want out of a film: a fun time without chest-beating moralistic, bloated stories, or perfunctory action. On these, Venom: Let There Be Carnage delivers as the odd-couple, campy-action ride we were promised.
