Reviews forVenom: The Last Danceare in, andthe third installment in Tom Hardy’s anti-hero franchise seems to be impressing very few critics. Since thefinancial and critical failure that wasMadame Web,the Sony cinematic Spider-Man universe is in desperate need of an unequivocal hit. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look likeVenom: The Last Danceis going to do the trick, continuing the second film’s trend of worse reviews compared to its predecessor.
The strength of the Tom Hardy Venom trilogy has always been the dynamic between Eddie Brock and his titular symbiote. While their chemistry is allegedly as good as ever in the threequel, it’s no longer enough to carry such a weighty, ambitious story. That’s not even to mention the technical filmmaking issues several reviewers have taken issue with. IfVenom: The Last Dance’s box office numbers can’t surpass its woeful reviews, sitting at38% on Rottentomatoes.comat the time of writing,Venom 4’s chancesseem more dire than ever.
10Venom: The Last Dance Has Some Pacing Issues
“A strained narrative that feels much longer than its runtime” -Julian Roman,Movieweb.com
Compared to many othermodern superhero films' lengths, the runtime ofVenom: The Last Danceis actually quite brisk, hovering around the 1 hour 50 minute mark. But somehow,many critics have expressed that the film’s glacial pace makes it feel much longer, skewing time itself with a boring narrative. The root cause behind these pacing issues stem from a variety of factors, mostly to do with the film’s ambitious plot.
All 3 Venom Movies Ranked
Venom: The Last Dance concluded Tom Hardy’s Venom trilogy in triumphant style, but the trilogy as a whole has certainly had its ups and downs.
9Venom: The Last Dance Gets Too Bogged Down In Lore And Worldbuilding
“The Last Dance frequently sidelines Eddie and Venom for an uninspired subplot” - Abby Olcese,The Pitch
One thing aboutVenom: The Last Dancethat was immediately apparent from the trailers was the sudden jump in threat levels of the villain. From the city-level dangers of fellow symbiote users like Riot and Carnage, Eddie and Venom suddenly find themselves up against the creator of the entire alien race themselves, the god-like being Knull, a powerful being from Marvel Comics canon necessitating plenty of explanation.The worldbuilding required to explain Knull’s presence and motives is nothing short of overbearing.
Many critics have lamented the loss of lower-stakes horseplay with Venom and Eddie’s relationship in favor of overly-complex worldbuilding and a galaxy-spanning villain. Brent Hankins ofThe Lamplight Reviewelaborates that the film veers into “unnecessarily serious territory, leaving the quirky charm of its predecessors struggling to shine through”. It seems as though the ambitions of the story eclipsed the street-level fun fans have come to adore from theVenomfranchise.
8Venom: The Last Dance Feels Unenthusiastic About Itself
“One can feel the sense of grudging obligation behind every element ofVenom: The Last Dance” - Mark Dujsik,Mark Reviews Movies
An interesting recurring statement expressed by many reviewers forVenom: The Last Danceis its seeming contempt for its own existence. This might not be the most precise criticism, but it’s one that has been particularly felt by comic book movie critics in recent times.Reviews forJoker: Folie à Deuxwere recently flooded by similar comments, possibly describing a worrying trend of superhero movies being indifferent to their own existences.
An interesting recurring statement expressed by many reviewers forVenom: The Last Danceis its seeming contempt for its own existence.
Venom: The Last Danceseems to be laden with a vibe suggesting that the creatives behind it weren’t particularly engaged with their work,the film being seemingly made out of begrudging obligation. Even Tom Hardy’s dual performance, typically the crux of the film’s appeal, has been described as tired or worn out by recent critics. Mark Dujsik of Mark Reviews Movies sums it up by stating “We’re left looking for signs that the people involved might have been under duress during production”.
7Venom: The Last Dance Makes Fun Of Eddie And Venom’s “Relationship” Too Much
“The Last Dance, right down to its embarrassing lamenting Maroon 5 love song over a “couple” montage between Eddie and Venom, is a full-blown circumstance of disparity” - Peter Gray,The Au Review.com
The most compelling aspect of theVenomfranchise has always been Eddie and Venom’s relationship, which led to both big laughs and genuine moments of tender drama. In the comics, it’s made quite clear that Eddie and Venom’s romantic relationship is quite more than implied, with runs likeVenom: The Hungerconfirming the two have very real feelings for one another as far back as 1996.
However,Venom: The Last Danceis keen to keep treating this relationship as a cheap joke. Following up the famous club scene ofVenom: Let There Be Carnage, Venom: The Last Dancecontinues to wring humor out of the implication that Eddie and Venom are genuinely together without meaningfully developing their relationship.
At least, that’s the feeling expressed by several reviewers, who lament the reduction of the idea to a childish punchline. It’s not dissimilar to the discourse surrounding Deadpool and Wolverine’s relationship inDeadpool & Wolverine,in the awkward spot between clever romantic allegory and fratty joke with homosexuality as a punchline.
6The New Symbiote Battles Aren’t Anything To Write Home About
“The design of the various new aliens is generic and unexciting” - Josh Bell,Tom’s Guide
If there’s one thing viewers could expect to get out ofVenom: The Last Dance, if nothing else, it’s an exciting series of battles with another symbiote villain. Sadly, it seems as though the third installment struggles even in that regard, a particularly bad misstep considering the anticipation for theimportant Marvel Comics villain, Knull. Sadly, Andy Serkis' Knull seems to barely be in the film, existing as a vague background player.
Instead,Venom does battle with some generic alien hunters sent by Knull to Earthto apprehend the inky-black symbiote for the data apparently housed in his body. Few reviewers have been impressed by the designs of these extraterrestrial beasts, whose fight scenes are put to shame by the symbiote on symbiote action of the previous two films. It’s a shame that Knull wasn’t better used inVenom: The Last Dance, according to reviewers.
5The Editing Of Venom: The Last Dance Leaves Something To Be Desired
“The frenetic action scenes feature an edit about once every second (sometimes less)” - Jim Schembri,Jim Schembri
Good editing is often an aspect of filmmaking that goes tragically underdeveloped by comic book movies. Theaction scene editing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for instance, often leaves much to be desired, over-indulgent in its sheer number of cuts or lack of cohesion with the cinematography. Sadly, it seems as thoughVenom: The Last Dancehas also fallen into this pitfall, withmultiple reviewers lamenting the final cuts of both its action sequences and long-form narrative.
The frantic alien battles ofVenom: The Last Dancehave been described as irritating by multiple critics, who take issue withthe sheer number of cuts-per-secondthat artificially increase a given battle’s visual excitement while making it difficult to tell what’s actually going on. The overall state of the film’s final edit in general hasn’t been reacted to much kinder, either, with plenty of fat somehow still left on to trim despite the lean 1 hour 50 minute runtime. According to many critics,Venom: The Last Danceneeded more time to gestate in post-production.
4Venom: The Last Dance Isn’t As Gory As Its Predecessors
“The film holds back on the gore which means that it plays it safe without even trying to push the envelope or take any risks” - Avi Offer,The NYC Movie Guru
One strength Venom has historically had compared to most of his contemporary Marvel heroes is his penchant for blood and gore. As an anti-hero who has to eat human flesh to survive and regularly uses the idea of feasting on his enemies' brains as a threat, it’s no surprise thatthe previous twoVenomfilms have been quite visceral compared to the MCU. Though all threeVenomfilms are rated PG-13, they’ve tended to push the limits of the rating to far greater extremes than most superhero film without an R rating are willing to go.
That is, until the release ofVenom: The Last Dance.Some critics have expressed disappointment over the level of brutality inflicted by Venom in the third film, which allegedly feels like a step back compared to the previous entry. Considering this aspect is one of the series' more unique draws, it’s a crying shame to see so much blood go unspilled inVenom: The Last Dance.
3Venom’s Multiversal Teases Don’t Go Anywhere
“If you’re wondering about the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” post-credit and how they connect, you needn’t worry—it goes nowhere” - Rodrigo Perez,The Playlist
Ever since the beginning of the series, fans have been eager to see Tom Hardy’s Venom intersect with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.The series went on to have several teased presences throughout the multiverse, from Eddie’s cameo inSpider-Man: No Way Hometo Mrs. Chen’s appearance inSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.Hopes were high thatVenom: The Last Dancewould finally give Eddie a meaningful shot at sharing the screen with Spider-Man once and for all in some form or another.
Frustratingly, according to the reviews of critics,Venom’s presence in the multiverse is quickly ironed out early on into the film, with no greater plans for connective tissue between franchises seemingly at play. Venom’s cameo inSpider-Man: No Way Homeis only acknowledged just long enough to get the anti-hero back into his home dimension, not lingering on the topic. It seems as though there aren’t anyplans for Venom to enter the MCUin a more permanent capacity, something of a letdown for the thirdVenomfilm.
2Venom: The Last Dance Wastes Some Talented Actors
“Will one actor’s perplexingly wholehearted turn be enough to get this one over the line to Enjoyment City? Hard to say” - Anthony O’Connor,FilmInk
Another one of theVenomseries' unique strengths across each of its films is the power of Tom Hardy’s dual performance as both Eddie Brock and Venom himself. It’s endlessly entertaining to watch Hardy literally argue with himself, something thatVenom: The Last Danceluckily seems to provide in spades. However,the supporting cast isn’t able to shinenearly as well, with multiple talented actors reported as having sub-par performances within the framework of the film.
Sadly, according to critics, none of these new characters are able to make a meaningful impact, with few of the film’s performances able to stand up to Tom Hardy’s.
In addition to Andy Serkis' Knull, the film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as an antagonistic soldier patriot, Rhys Ifans as an alien-loving hippie, and Juno Temple as a scientist interested in the potential of symbiotes. Sadly, according to critics,none of these new characters are able to make a meaningful impact, with few of the film’s performances able to stand up to Tom Hardy’s. That’s not to say the actors portraying them aren’t talented, but it seems thatVenom: The Last Danceweren’t able to utilize them to their full potential.
1The World-Ending Threat Of Venom: The Last Dance Doesn’t Work With The Character
“To me, bringing a typical comic book-style doomsday plot is about the last thing a “Venom” movie needs” - Jake Coyle,AP News
As previously stated, the strength of theVenomseries has always been the dynamic between Tom Hardy’s dual leads. Their petty arguments and conflicts suit themselves to more grounded, street-level stories, with psychopaths, government agents, and fellow symbiote-wielders being their best opponents. This is totally incongruous withthe universe-ending threat of Knull inVenom: The Last Dance,which runs totally counter to the series' strengths.
Every Symbiote In Venom: The Last Dance Explained
Venom: The Last Dance features a sizable roster of new symbiotes and their hosts, going beyond Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and Venom alone.
As Jake Coyle ofAP Newsstates, “The touchstone for these movies shouldn’t be the Marvel playbook but old episodes of ‘The Odd Couple’”. Yet the third film couldn’t resist indulging itself with a climactic final battle for the fate of the universe, blowing up the scale of theVenomseries unnecessarily. In truth,Knull would work better in the MCUthan in the Sony universe, as proven byVenom: The Last Danceaccording to critics.
