In Venom: The Last Dance, director Kelly Marcel pushes the chaotic, tongue-in-cheek humor and eccentricities of Eddie Brock’s (Tom Hardy) character to new limits. Tom Hardy returns to the role, embodying Brock’s ongoing, strange symbiosis with Venom, a storyline that oscillates between comedy and horror. However, the humor feels stale, and Brock’s internal struggle lacks fresh appeal.
Venom: The Last Dance is the follow-up to 2018’s Venom and 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage. As the title implies, The Last Dance is supposedly the final film in the trilogy. And Eddie and Venom’s Super-Powered Bromantic Affair still continues in The Last Dance.
In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie Brock, played by Tom Hardy, finds himself facing a new existential crisis as he grapples with Venom’s growing appetite for power and vengeance. This time, Brock’s symbiotic partner pushes him toward dangerous extremes, making it hard for Eddie to keep his humanity intact. As Venom’s influence grows, Eddie is forced to confront a formidable adversary who threatens not only his life but also the fragile coexistence he has managed to maintain with Venom.
The film is continued from Carnage’s last scene where Eddie Brock drank at the bar after moving universe. In this film, Brock and Venom face a creature known as Xenophage. The chase of Brock and Venom is because they have a key to free Knull, the creator of symbiotes. While fighting with many Xenophages, many symbiotes like Venom that were being kept in Area 51 also used to awaken power of several Venom-like creatures.
The film grapples with its identity, aiming to entertain but often coming across as a forced replay of previous successes. While past installments revealed in their antihero’s raw unpredictability, this final chapter feels formulaic, unable to deliver the payoff the series deserved.
Hardy’s dynamic with his alter-ego Venom still has moments of wit, yet they’re eclipsed by uninspired dialogue and an uneven tone that swings between horror and slapstick. The relationship between Brock and Venom in this film is also still similar to the first film, showing that the characters and their relationship are underdeveloped.
Visually, it delivers on spectacle, particularly in the climactic battle scenes, which provide a high-energy escape for fans of big-screen action. However, this visual grandeur is hampered by a lackluster script, with a plot that feels more like a rehash than a culmination. The result is an underwhelming attempt to conclude Brock and Venom’s story, despite its attempts at air-headed escapism.
Similar with Deadpool & Wolverine, Venom: The Last Dance also shares a few moments to mock Marvel’s multiverse concept. It is fresh and showing Marvel intention in not going deeper to explore multiverse. Also, the end of the Venom trilogy also give a bit of question whether Venom will enter MCU in the future or not since the post-credit scenes show Knull as the next enemy. It would be interesting to see Venom as part of MCU in the future together with Deadpool and Wolverine.
Despite the repetitive comedy and underdeveloped characters, Venom: The Last Dance is a fair closure to the Venom trilogy from Sony before entering the MCU. It might be lacking but the film is still entertaining and gives that bitter-lingering feeling at the end of the film.
Our Score: 6.5/10
Title: Venom: The Last Dance
Production: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Arad Production
Director: Kelly Marcell
Story: Tom Hardy, Kelly Marcell
Original Story: Venom by Marvel Comics
Starring: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Peggy Lu
