“Venom: The Last Dance” Review: Fun But Painfully-Middling Ending For Beloved Anti-Hero

Out of Spider-Man’s long list of iconic villains, only a few can outshine the webhead’s dark other half, Venom. In recent years, this iconic villain has been promoted to anti-hero status, and fans have been itching to see the symbiote make its big screen debut, and we received just that back in 2018 with the first “Venom” film.

Now, after six years, it’s time to say goodbye to everyone’s favourite Klyntar in an explosive finale. This movie is dead set on giving us an emotional rollercoaster ride, whilst setting up the future plot points for the MCU to explore. But does it succeed? Let’s find out.

The film opens with a brief overview of the symbiotes and their creator, Knull, the eldritch god of darkness. Though he made the symbiotes, he was ultimately betrayed by his creation, resulting in him being bound to his throne over the course of millions of years.

The only thing that would free him is the codex, the key that will give Knull ultimate dominion over his creation and allow him to break free. The codex can only be formed when a symbiote and a compatible host become fully in sync and in their bonded form – which results in the King in Black turning his gaze towards Eddie Brock and Venom (both played by Tom Hardy). From there, the dynamic duo realises that their time is almost up and makes the best of what little they have left as they are relentlessly hunted by Knull’s more loyal and numerous mindless drones.

There’s a lot to unpack with this film; to give the long and short of it, we don’t necessarily think the film is bad, but we don’t believe it to be exceptionally good either; it sort of comfortably sits dead in the middle of those two ends. Right now, online discourse and public opinion for it is overwhelmingly positive, with many online critics stating that it is a “feast for the fans.”

We are not wholly dismissing these opinions, as they do have some basis. They are entitled to their own perspectives, and so are we. Is it bigger and better than the previous two films? Yes, especially over “Let There Be Carnage.” Does it have much more substance in terms of story? Sort of, yes. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely.

Right out of the gate, this film is easily superior to the previous entries. Eddie Brock and Venom’s dynamic is at an all-time high throughout the film, due in large part to Hardy’s performance. Though he may be just technically talking to himself for 95% of the film, it is still an absolute blast to see him portray the two characters, working together as they grow fond of and care for each other. And across three films, it is only natural for that to be the case (and now, with stakes higher than ever, the two are forced to make a difficult choice).

Compared to the previous entries, “Venom: The Last Dance” wears its wackiness on its sleeve with pride, and the film should be commended for that. As this is goodbye for our favourite anti-hero, the film goes above and beyond to make us laugh and genuinely have a good time in the theatres.

There are also a lot of slower sequences, where Eddie and Venom hitch a ride with a family and, to pass the time, engage in some nice car karaoke. The film is trying to be a lot more heartfelt and touching, but is it? To an extent, yes, but we feel that some of those instances feel forced, as if the wholesomeness doesn’t come naturally to the script. The most egregious case of this is the ending, where scenes from the previous movies are flashed in an attempt to make us shed a tear. It obviously feels like the film doesn’t earn the bittersweet ending they were hoping for, and that this portion is a last-ditch effort to make the audience cry.

Despite this obvious choice to be a more light-hearted film, it still doesn’t hold back when it comes to intense action sequences. There are a lot of tense moments throughout these sequences, as Eddie and Venom are forced to fight in more creative ways, something the film could have explored in more detail. When it comes to the dramatic final fight, it becomes an absolute brawl, filled with a lot of Easter eggs for comics fans, though it does become a tad too messy by the end of it.

With that said, let’s move on and discuss why we feel that this film feels rather middling, especially for what’s supposed to be a finale. Right off the bat, it has some serious pacing issues. If “Let There Be Carnage” felt like the plot moved too fast for its own good, “The Last Dance” is all over the place. A fellow reviewer said it best: “(it) feels like it only had 30 minutes of a solid script, but needed to make the final movie, so they stretched it out with random stuff.” And frankly speaking, they aren’t necessarily wrong.

A prime example of this is that one scene where Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” suddenly blares out of the blue as our two protagonists traverse the desert, only for it to immediately jump cut to a serious scene in a laboratory somewhere. The Mrs. Chen’s dance sequence is also surprising; don’t get us wrong, it is an absolutely fun scene, but it comes out of nowhere, again rudely interrupting the movie’s pace. If the script had leaned in on the wackier moments longer and then slowly transitioned to a more wholesome atmosphere rather than cutting it off, then it would have made the movie less jarring and the ending would be more gut-wrenching.

Ultimately, we feel that this film could have been far greater than it is. However, with the introduction of Knull and the integration of Venom into the greater MCU by Disney, it feels as though it was made to be a sort of stepping stone to introduce the King in Black as the next potential villain for the franchise. It’s like “Thor: The Dark World.” It is not the best MCU film, far from it, but it is integral because they introduce one of the six Infinity Stones there. “Venom: The Last Dance” is a fun film, but it lacks substance, and when you think on it hard enough, you’d realise that the only thing it accomplishes is setting up, or at least introducing, what could be the next big bad of the setting. It feels like some major corners are cut, which results in a meh cinematic experience.

However, do we dissuade you from watching it? No, in fact, we encourage you to view it and formulate your own opinion. Though there could be a lot of improvements when it comes to story and pacing, it is still a fun movie where you can simply turn off your brain and enjoy what’s in front of you. If you look at it from another perspective, you can say that it is an astonishing film that is setting up something bigger for us to experience in the future.

In summation, “Venom: The Last Dance” has plenty of problems; chief among them is the pacing and the script, because the film is more focused on setting up a future instalment rather than a story in front of us. Despite this, it is still an absolutely fun flick that manages to find the perfect balance between hilarious moments and epic action scenes. It is far from perfect, but if you’re looking for an epic spectacle you can simply enjoy, then this is it. We just wish that the ending came about more naturally in order to give our favourite anti-hero the sendoff they deserve.

“Venom: The Last Dance” opens in theatres nationwide on 24th October