Think 'Lethal Weapon' with a talking alien parasite. Tom Hardy returns as Venom/Eddie Brock, in an action-comedy with stunning visuals and an effectively short runtime.
Tom Hardy returned for the sequel to his fan-favourite, critical failure Venom as Eddie Brock and the symbiote living in his body. Initially, Tom Hardy seemed an unusual choice for a comic book movie as we rarely see him in commercial roles. However, he owned the character in Venom, angling towards the difficulty of hosting an alien virus within and dealing with having another mind inside his body with the ability to control it. Tom Hardy is nothing short of sensational in Venom: Let There Be Carnage as well. He is equally outstanding as both Eddie and Venom.Â
After the first film’s events, he wants to live in peace, as best as he can. Shunning the world outside, Eddie lives and seems to have lost the drive he had for his career. The movie cuts through the chase and introduces the villain, the serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) who asks specifically to speak to Eddie. Eddie agrees albeit reluctantly, only to find that Cletus is willing to reveal his secrets on the condition that he publishes a cryptic poem on the front page of his paper.
Eddie has gotten a lot better at living with Venom inside him. Venom on the other hand has learned to control his urges, restricting his appetite to chickens and chocolate. Apart from strength and viciousness, Venom also has an amazing memory and helps Eddie to find Cletus’ burial ground from his serial killing days. Cletus, now on death row and pissed off at Eddie, bites him and consumes some of the venomous symbiote from his body leading to the birth of Carnage. No one told Cletus that with great power comes great responsibility as he wreaks havoc on everyone and everything ruthlessly murdering anyone in his path.
The great Andy Serkis who wrote the rulebook on CGI character acting such as Venom, directs this movie with great finesse as the movie looks like a standalone graphic novel. With a runtime of 1 hour and 37 minutes, not a second is wasted on anything that doesn’t move the story forward. The movie is also a visual treat due to three-time Oscar winner Robert Richardson’s cinematography. The balance of colours and light in the movie is beautiful.
Michelle Williams reprises her role as Anne who is now getting married to Dr. Dan, giving Eddie another mixed emotion to deal with. Reid Scott is back again as Dr. Dan and plays him earnestly despite being the butt of every joke until the third act. Stephen Graham plays Detective Patrick Mulligan who is on a quest to find the person who attacked him and left him partially deaf. It was an added pleasure to watch Hardy and Graham together on the big screen after working together on several TV shows. Their banter is just one of the many delights that the writing brings through the dialogue. Naomie Harris plays Shreik laughing maniacally and all in all, having fun with the role.
Even with a flawed third act, Venom: Let There Be Carnage works because of the entertaining performances, shorter runtime, beautiful photography and the funny buddy-cop-movies style camaraderie between Eddie and Venom providing a new spin to the genre.
Det. Mulligan – ‘What did you get?’
Eddie – ‘Uh, I got a headache and probably got tuberculosis.’
Det. Mulligan – [pointing to his deaf ear] ‘What? A little louder.’
Eddie – ‘He read me poetry, man.’
Det. Mulligan – ‘Is this some kinda joke to you, Eddie? Because I’m not laughing.’
Venom – [In Eddie’s head] ‘Yeah, you could do with a laugh.’
Eddie – ‘C’mon, man. These things, they just take a little time. All right?’
Det. Mulligan – ‘The second he gives you something.’
Eddie- Of course.
Det. Mulligan – ‘Keep me ahead of the curb, Eddie. Don’t embarrass me!’ Do you understand?
Eddie- ‘Trust me. The only scoop I’m getting today is double chocolate chip.’
Venom – [In Eddie’s head] ‘No! I get brain freeze.’