Venom The Last Dance: ‘Til Death Do They Part

Ex-reporter, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and the alien Symbiote, Venom (also voiced by Tom Hardy), are still in Mexico and on the run after their battle with Carnage, they find themselves fugitives being framed for murder. Their plan to clear their names is to get to New York and use Eddie’s connections there to prove their innocence.  But they’re pursued by a mysterious military man, Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dr Strange) a commander for Imperium and Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) a good-hearted scientist studying the symbiotes at a secret base under Area 51, which is being decommissioned. Along the way, Eddie and Venom befriend Martin Moon (Rhys Ifans) and his family, a hippy traveling to Area 51, who just wants to see an alien before the military base is destroyed.  Also in pursuit is a dangerous alien creature known as a Xenophage. They were sent by a god like being known as Knull (Andy Serkis) who created both the Symbiotes and the Xenophages.  They are after the “Codex” that Venom carries, which could free Knull, from imprisonment leading to the annihilation of all life on Earth.  The only way to get rid of the “Codex” is for either Eddie or Venom to die and the pair must decide if they are willing to sacrifice themselves.

Venom: The Last Dance is the third movie in the Venom franchise coming after 2018’s Venom and 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage. This is the fifth film in the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) consisting of the three Venom films and 2022’s Morbius and Madam Web which was released earlier this year. Although all of these comic characters origins are all related in some way to the Marvel character Spider-Man, the movies have not featured or acknowledged his existence.  Although Eddie / Venom do acknowledge the multiverse and have a brief cross over into the MCU during the end credits of the MCU’s Spider-Man: No Way Home and at the beginning of this film, but it appears that the only reason the cross over happens is to tentatively link the two franchises for future projects and Eddie and Venom really don’t have any meaningful plot points or interactions within the MCU.  Later this year, Kraven: The Hunter will be released and the Spider-Noir television series starring Nick Cage is currently filming.  There are also several other films in development to continue the SSU.  Venom: The Last Dance was released into theaters on 10/25/24 and is getting mediocre reviews.  CinemaScore polled audiences giving it a B- on an A+ to F scale which is the lowest score of the trilogy, Metacritic reviews average to 41/100 and Rotten Tomatoes is seeing a 4.6/10.  Although this film wraps up Eddie and Venom’s story, star Tom Hardy is willing to reprise his role and would like to see Eddie meet Spider-Man in the future.

To me, this was the weakest of the Venom films with a weak story and sloppy writing, but that is not to say that it wasn’t entertaining.  There are quite a few chuckles along the way, specifically with the dialogue between Eddie and Venom.  There is also an interesting dynamic between the two characters, where they are constantly at odds with each other, but will often refer to the other as his “Best Friend” and when separated they both experience a feeling of loss.  I also found Venom to be a bit softer in this film which I liked.  He grows fond of the Moon family and seems to be gaining a better understanding of humanity.  This film introduces more of the Symbiote back story and definitely sees them as sympathetic characters as opposed to a violent alien threat especially after the Xenophages arrive. The other Symbiotes jumping from person to person to protect humanity adds to repainting all the Symbiotes as misunderstood creatures. The touching and subtly emotional scenes that Eddie, Venom and the Moon family have, I liked, but clumsy dialogue and addition scenes seem unnecessary. There were storylines that weren’t explored or fully realized and seem to just waste time, as if they didn’t have enough material for a full movie, so they threw in some subplots, possibly as character development, but without fully exploring them, just seemed unnecessary for the actual plot. The final battle scene was good, but the ending’s emotional impact was impaired by the writing and the odd story telling.  Overall, this was an entertaining film, but nothing great or special, and I feel it was more a vehicle to continue to bridge the MCU and SSU worlds and to introduce Knull for future films. I give it a 5/10.