Venom: The Last Dance - Swan Song or Symbiotic Failure?

Gearing Up for Battle

This is ground control to Major Tom: the symbiotic superhero duo is back for a final outing! Venom: The Last Dance is the third and (as of now) the final installment in the successful Venom series, itself part of the ongoing Sony Spider-Man Villain Universe. 

Unlike most cinematic universes, however, this franchise is not exactly held in high regard. Films within it like Morbius and Madame Web have become infamous for their poor scripts, acting, action, and dialogue; these films alone are often regarded as some of the worst in the entire genre.

The sole exception to this series’ malign has been the Venom movies. While none of them have been particularly well received by critics, they have been running strong since 2018 with mostly positive audience reception and consistently successful box office returns. Now, the titular symbiote is back for his big finale, which has not been met with the level of hype a conclusion typically gets. 

Much like the first two, The Last Dance got mixed to negative reception from critics. Even audiences don’t seem very thrilled by this new installment, giving it a B- rating on CinemaScore and the film itself only earning around $50 million on its opening weekend; both of these statistics are new lows for the trilogy.

Personally, I don’t hate the Venom movies, but I certainly don’t consider them good movies. I think both of the previous films are faulty in their own sort of way, with the first film taking too long to get going and the sequel sporting an inconsistent tone and lazy villain. That said, I still wanted to give this final outing a shot since the climate of comic book movies has been rather stagnant this year. In fact, with the exception of Deadpool & Wolverine, I think all of this year’s superhero flicks–including Madame Web, The Crow, and Joker: Folie à Deux– have been highly unremarkable.

Nonetheless, I like giving movies in this genre a fair shot. I thought there could be something in The Last Dance that would help it stand out among the crowd. So, in typical me fashion, I grabbed a ticket and caught a screening on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the nearby Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas, joined by fellow Cyclone Chronicle Staff Writer, Joe Hamway. But this naturally raises the question: would this movie leave me dancing on my way out, or should it be sent back to the planet whence it came?

It’s a Wild World

Venom: The Last Dance takes place very shortly after the previous film. It sees former reporter Eddie Brock and symbiotic sidekick Venom on the run after they are found by inhabitants of the latter’s home planet. This leads to a series of events that threaten to end Brock and Venom’s bond for good. Directed by Kelly Marcel–writer of the previous two films–the film stars Tom Hardy (reprising his role from those past films), Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, and Stephen Graham, among others.

Right from the get-go, I should give this movie credit where it’s due; there is a decent amount of it I did thoroughly enjoy. This is primarily because of Hardy’s charismatic performance. Having to portray both Brock and Venom, Hardy provides a very charismatic portrayal of both characters, each standing their own ground. While Brock is much more grounded and skeptical, Venom provides more of the comic relief and energy to the picture; Hardy gives it his all even amidst the material he has to work with, making for a charming portrayal of the dynamic duo. 

I will also admit that I had fun during the film’s action sequences, particularly one that occurs near the conclusion. Accompanied by a sea of creative visuals, nice cinematography, and solid music courtesy of Dan Deacon, the action was solidly edited and engaging throughout. These scenes have always been among the big selling points of these movies, often standing out as highlights in overall mediocre products. This third installment is no exception, as it encapsulates the chaotic energy of Venom’s character and lets it shine in these sequences. At the very least, the film is not often dull and picks up the pace when a new action scene starts up.

Not of This Planet

Even with these positive aspects, I cannot overlook many of the major faults this movie has. As someone who is not a major fan of the Venom trilogy, The Last Dance just felt like more of the same as before. The movie plays it too safe in its content, since the major threat of Venom’s home attacking is not given that much attention in the grand scheme of the final product. It does not help that many scenes in the film–primarily in the second act–don’t add anything to the grand scheme of the story. Without giving too much away, it feels like the movie tries setting up more than it can answer, which leads to a very messy script that can never really sell itself as a big finale. 

This also impacts many of the characters, both human and symbiote. Outside of Brock and Venom, the characters are often set up as major contributors to the film’s plot, but don’t really do anything until the script calls for them. Many plot points are set up but are never fully developed, thus resulting in many of the movie’s characters to be forgettable. No one stands out in this film; given the wide cast of different characters this film offers, it makes them all very hard to keep track of, especially when the feature itself seems to forget to give them anything to do.

Balancing its Personalities

The writing and characters are the only fatal flaws the film exhibits, as it also sports a highly inconsistent tone. Tying back to the script being filled to the brim with characters and scenes that don’t contribute much to the movie, they are all surrounded by a variety of different tones. However, the film can never find the right balance as to when these certain sequences should be queued. For example, the film could try to have a dark, threatening moment that ties back to the main conflict before suddenly cutting to an over-the-top comedic sequence that does nothing but pad the runtime. This leads to a decent amount of tonal whiplash throughout the film; I could not figure out how I was supposed to feel throughout the majority of the runtime.

Given that this is advertised as a finale to Venom’s story, I wish the film delved into more dark details, like fleshing out the main antagonist by giving him more screen time or devoting more time to developing the threat he possesses. This would have added more stakes to the final product, and given the audience more of a reason to care about what might happen next. Yet, the movie focuses more on the shenanigans our protagonists find themselves in. While this does make for some clever moments courtesy of Hardy’s performance, it never lives up to the stakes established in the trailers, leaving the film to come off as just another Venom adventure opposed to his last dance. 

The inconsistencies also translate to the movie’s soundtrack. While the musical score is solid as a whole, the songs picked for the track list are a completely different story. I don’t want to give too much away about the context some songs are used in, but it just adds more to the tone that already can’t make up its mind. That said, I can note that this film makes use of tracks from Maroon 5 and Post Malone that just did not work in the context of what the film was trying to do.

A Venomous Conclusion

Overall, while I can have fun with the action and appreciate Hardy’s efforts in his leading role, Venom: The Last Dance is yet another unremarkable comic book movie from this year because of its inconsistent tone, sloppy storytelling, forgettable side characters, and failure of grand stakes to make this finale stick out. In general, I would consider this movie a one-and-done deal at best and background noise at worst. It’s very harmless and approachable, but objectively poor in execution.

If you like films in the superhero and action genres, or if you enjoyed the previous two Venom films, you might get more of a kick out of this film than I did. If you’re interested in checking out Venom’s last dance on the big screen, it’s currently playing at theaters nationwide, including the Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas close to campus; tickets are half-priced on Tuesdays, which is about what this movie’s worth. Otherwise, I’d say to either wait for it to come to digital platforms or just skip it. 

As much as I wanted to give this conclusion the benefit of the doubt, it could not resonate with me as a finale to a contemporary comic franchise. It might have its moments, but this is one dance that could not win me over, even as the final curtain came down. 

My Rating: