Back in 2018 when the first Venom movie dropped, nobody had much hope and I think this was mostly because how the Symbiote appear for the first time during a Spider Man 3 movie with Tobey Maguire, where Topher Grace did Venom so it was a total different scenario. Tom Hardy playing a weird alien human hybrid that talks to himself and occasionally eats people? That sounded like a recipe for disaster, a mix of dark humor comedy with a very less known character from the Spider Verse. Yet somehow it stick and the Venom franchise has turned into this not bad after all anti hero, on the last dance the Symbiotes are the good guys, Venom IS A GOOD GUY!!!.
Venom: The Last Dance it’s not going to win any Oscar awards, and it’s definitely not going to be studied in film schools, but that’s exactly the kind of wild, unpredictable ride that makes comic book movies fun. This isn’t your typical superhero story, it’s a kind of road trip adventure where finally Venom gets to be the weird, hilarious, slightly unhinged character fans have always known from the comics, I remember that even on the 90s Spider Man animated series it was one of the less evil villains.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16366836/
- Platform: AppleTV+
Rottentomatoes Rating
Eddie Brock and Venom are on the run in the first plot, which honestly seems the most natural thing for these two, Venom constantly gets Eddie into trouble, big trouble because of his wild nature but this time they are been look under every rock by special ops. Comes into the stage "<a class="wpil_keyword_link" href="https://sonys-spider-man-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Knull" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Knull" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked" data-wpil-monitor-id="562">Knull", the God of symbiotes, imprisoned and wants out, is this time the main antagonist. He needs something called the Codex, which just so happens to be in Eddie and Venom, Codex can only exist when the Symbiote revive his host creating this unique bond that only becomes active when they transform.
The thing that makes this movie work is that it embraces the fact that Venom is a trouble maker, he doesn't mean too but he just can't exist within normal humans without causing problems even when he wants to be the good guy, the real reason why they looking for them since this makes other fear what might happen if Venom does goes rouge. The Last Dance also bring some other aspects we didn't know about Venom, it’s a film where Venom turns into a horse, dances to ABBA, and has more personality than most human characters. Tom Hardy is still the absolute MVP of the duo, and I mean that in a compliment, playing Eddie and Venom with a dedication to stay funny, look guffy and wild since Tom does both Venom and Eddie, its like talking to himself since in his mind he already know both lines, he’s got the kind of chemistry with himself that is nothing short of miraculous, he’s performing a one man show where he’s arguing with himself and it’s completely compelling.
The movie also got a great supporting cast and characters starting with Rex Strickland, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, is a more tame military guy than we've seen on the big screen in a tough guy antagonist. Dr. Teddy Payne is a scientist with her own complicated motivations is played by Juno Temple. They’re all just background noise to the main event of Eddie and Venom’s relationship, but the truth is that both play important parts during the movie and even keep the door open for a next appearance of Symbiotes in the future or even Venom himself?, I'm not too sure about the last one but for sure more Symbiotes.
Online it seems audiences are mixed but mostly positive, I went to the movies on past Monday to watch the movie and people seem to enjoy it. The movie for sure is not about a villain and actually lack Villains since all we see is Knull complaining and the Xenophages after Venom but nothing else, but for most fans it's just happy to see Venom being Venom. It feels like they figured out what people actually like about the previous movies, MORE VENOM, an alien symbiote guy who talks to himself and sometimes eats bad guys.
On The Last Dance, Venom goes over the top to been silly and stupid, for example when he turns into a horse or when they are at the casino, the type of comedy use on this scene are very extremist and people laugh about it so much, as I mention probably part of the code that was cracked by the two previous movies.
The movie doesn’t really serve as closure for Eddie and Venom’s story, but it does set up a potential future for the symbiote universe. From the moment Venom explains what the Codex is, there’s a suggestion that either Eddie or Venom has to die to stop Knull, which gives the movie some real emotional stakes that sparks the curiosity of viewers who want more and more about it so they can figure out who will die at the end, we knew one had to die period. The film uses the notion of sacrifice and the powerful bond between Eddie and Venom to turn what would be a throwaway superhero film into something surprisingly touching.
The Last Dance, doesn’t try to be a masterpiece, and it knows it isn’t, instead it doubles down on what works, the weird chemistry between Eddie and Venom, the creative action sequences and just plain fun of seeing a guy with an alien symbiote run wild, on this movie is also the first time that Eddie kills someone almost intentionally as himself and not Venom, makes him feel guilty and accuse Venom from all this mess. The kind of movie that doesn't blame it for being what it is, a wild, ridiculous ride that cares more about being entertaining than Oscar bait, but also touching and giving a future for Symbiotes in the SSU (Spider Man Universe).
The climactic battle as the final stage for the movie, is chaos involving multiple symbiotes, the Xenophages striking in mass destruction. The end credits see Knull make a more substantial appearance after he's been mostly sitting on the sidelines until now, a badass reveal that leaves the door open for future story lines. The movie wants to have it both ways, it wants to be a conclusion but also sell itself as a means to an uncertain franchise future. The movie toying and exploring the idea of their complete connection, are they two different entities or just one being?
Is it a perfect movie? Absolutely not, some of the side characters feel like they're from a whole other movie and the plot has more holes than you can imagine, but for fans of Venom, like me, people who enjoy their superhero movies with a little bit of weird, this is a fitting conclusion to a trilogy that didn’t ever quite play by the rules.
I'm giving Venom: The Last Dance a good solid 7.5 out of 10, since it won’t change the world of cinema, but it could make you laugh, cringe, and oddly love a guy and his alien symbiote buddy, sometimes, that’s exactly what you want from a movie, just to have fun on a a good one time watch.
