Let The Carnage Ensue! "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" is an Entertaining, Action-Packed Sequel

 

Fall is here, y'all! With it, comes a slew of highly anticipated movies that are sure to bring 2021 to an epic, cinematic end. When it comes to comic book movies, Marvel has a slew of them still primed and ready for release before the year is done; the MCU is alive and well. That being said, Sony's Spider-Man universe is also alive and well, with Spider-Man: No Way Home slated for December, and their latest film opening this weekend. Of course, I'm talking about Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The first Venom film garnered a mixed bag of responses and reviews due to its silly, corny, albeit crazy approach to a fan-favorite character. Personally, I really enjoyed Venom. I found it funny, entertaining, crazy, and pretty much what I would expect from a Venom film. It's not the greatest comic book movie ever made, but it doesn't box itself into the cookie-cutter MCU tone. It wholly does its own thing, and for that I commend it. Venom: Let There Be Carnage takes those elements of the first film and cranks it up to eleven. 

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), famed and dismantled reporter, attempts to reignite his career by interviewing serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), who becomes the host of the symbiote Carnage and escapes prison after a failed execution. The symbiote Venom is struggling to live by Eddie's "rules," and their relationship - if you want to call it that - becomes strained in the midst of all the chaos that reigns from Carnage. It's a bonkers story that feels very much like reading a comic book, and I think a lot of that has to due with the runtime. The movie is a tight 97 minutes, and though you can feel the quickened pace, I can't help but think there's a longer, better cut out there somewhere in the ether. There are moments in the film where you can tell they were trying to go somewhere, establishing some sort of point, but then it moves on to the next scene. Even though I really enjoyed this movie, I think it could've been a better film if it was maybe 20 minutes longer, just so that certain scenes could breathe a bit more. Who knows, maybe we'll get a director's cut later on.

The stand-out element in this movie - as it was in the last film - is the Eddie/Venom relationship. Tom Hardy is an absolute blast to watch. When we meet Eddie, some time has passed; he and Venom have started to really get the hang of each other, which also means they're completely annoyed with each other. Venom is battling his animalistic urges while dealing with Eddie's house rules, being the host and all. Eddie is simply trying to live as normal a life as possible, despite having a symbiote who wants to eat people at every turn. Their relationship gets put to the test and what springs from their comedic arguments is an entire sequence of Venom "coming out of the Eddie closet," which was one of the weirdest and funniest sequences in the entire film. That may sound ambiguous, but once you see it you'll know. Tom Hardy steals the movie, both as Eddie and as the voice of Venom, and everything around them seems to fall in comparison.

The introduction to Carnage has been highly anticipated by fans of the comics. In many ways, Carnage may be more of a fan favorite than Venom, so to see him done right appeared to be a tall order. Woody Harrelson chews the scenery every time he's on screen, and you can tell he's having a blast playing Cletus. The storyline for Cletus - which involves childhood trauma and an old fling named Shriek (Naomie Harris) - is a sad one, but it completely gets the back burner once the symbiote connects with him. The effects on Carnage were so well done. The VFX in this film, as a whole, are a step up from the first for sure, but Carnage was a visual delight. I think a lot of this improvement stems from the director Andy Serkis' background with visual effects and creature work. The man has worked on so many iconic films over the last two decades that his direction was sure to be useful in bringing one of comic book fans' favorite characters to life.

At the end of the day, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a silly, over-the-top, action-packed roller coaster that leans into the craziness and delivers a completely fun and entertaining experience. It's not the greatest comic book movie ever made, but then again, it didn't need to be. As I said before, this movie doesn't even try to be like any other MCU movie, and that's great. There's room to be different, and this movie leans into its differences in a strong way. There is a mid credits scene though that is sure to blow everyone's minds, so be sure to stick around for that. In a nutshell, if you liked the first one, you're bound to like this new one.