Summary
It’s murder on the dance floor as this messy finale tries to keep up the rhythm of the series but stumbles over its own chaotic moves.
Venom, born from the gloriously over-the-top comic book boom of ’80s and ’90s, has always felt like a wild throwback to that era on screen—with more irreverence and attitude than today’s sleek, formula-driven Marvel output. But as superhero movies start to groan under their own weight, VENOM: THE LAST DANCE leans into the chaos, letting the cracks in the series become its defining feature.
Picking up right after the events of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, with a nod to Spider-Man: No Way Home, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his alien symbiote, Venom, are now on the run after being falsely accused of a crime. Meanwhile, in a distant realm, Knull—the creator of the symbiotes—unleashes giant insect-like creatures to hunt them down. It turns out Eddie and Venom hold the key to Knull’s return to power, setting the film’s MacGuffin in motion.
Despite an early declaration that they’re done with “Multiverse shit,” writer/director Kelly Marcel leans heavily on the Marvel Cinematic Universe formula—but not the good parts. The film’s fatal flaw lies in trying to cram too many elements onto the flimsy buddy movie framework, leaving this third and supposedly final outing feeling overstuffed.
Chief among these issues is Knull being framed as a Thanos-like figure. Allegedly played by Andy Serkis, though only ever seen in half-shadow, the King in Black’s threat feels more existential than real. To compensate, we get soldier Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) as the on-the-ground antagonist, determined to hunt down and destroy Venom, despite the objections of the partially paralysed scientist Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple).
Swinging wildly between tones and styles—including a random dance sequence in Las Vegas with the returning Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu)—the film’s climax devolves into a mess of CG blobs tearing each other apart, reforming, and repeating until it’s mercifully over. Fan-favourite comic book characters pop in for seconds, just long enough to elicit a cheer, before vanishing without contributing anything meaningful. The mid-film introduction of alien-obsessed Martin (Rhys Ifan) and his hippie family feels equally random, existing solely to add some semblance of human stakes to the explosive finale.
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE, meant to close the chapter on Eddie and Venom, ultimately stumbles to a lacklustre non-ending, leaving little satisfaction to be had. While a mid-credits tease hints at a future for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, it’s a setup that only the most dedicated comic book readers might find intriguing, but by then, everyone else has already punched their dance cards and left the floor.
2024 | USA | DIRECTOR: Kelly Marcel | WRITERS: Kelly Marcel | CAST: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach, Stephen Graham, Andy Serkis | DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures Releasing | RUNNING TIME: 110 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 24 October 2024 (Australia), 25 October 2024 (USA)
