Venom: Let There Be Carnage

As soon as Ruben Fleischer’s first Venom film was announced by Sony, the big question was how the film could work with the villain, but without the requisite hero…
It was a problem that the film never satisfactorily solved; the result was a muddled amalgamation of a nemesis without a counterpart, a horror-light setting, and odd screwball comedy set-pieces. When the sequel was announced, with Andy Serkis to take the helm, it was assumed that these disparate, nebulous factors would be addressed. The result is more of the same, and less.

Where the 2018 film had an origin story to form at least some semblance of a plot, here there is no such luxury. Hardy – who once again is dragged down by the leaden material – has, rather confoundingly, a ‘Story by’ credit. Surely one of the easiest earned in Hollywood history.

The slapstick elements and split-personality comedy threaten to entertain on a few occasions, but are wildly hit-and-miss. Fittingly, as Hardy’s Eddie Brock wrestles between the warring factions of his personality, so does the film. Where you’d hope the few successful aspects of Fleischer’s film would cohere here, there are no such lessons learned.

You’d imagine this would be the nadir of the excellent cast’s career. Why Williams has returned, and why Hardy is so invested in this ongoing project is a mystery.
Sony’s piggy-backing on the success of the MCU won’t continue if this is the quality of the output. What the future holds for these side-projects is more interesting than the shambles of this particular instalment. Let’s just hope this parasite doesn’t latch on and infect its far more successful and coherent host.

Martin.