Reviews

Venom:  The Last Dance  (12A) |Close-Up Film Review

Dir. Kelly Marcel, US/UK/Mexico, 2024, 109 mins

Cast:   Tom Hardy, Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rhys Ifans,

Review by Carol Allen

The comic book superheroes when they first appeared were a novelty to UK audiences, who hadn’t been brought up on Marvel.   

Superman was – well, rather super, the Batman franchise and the world of Gotham City under a variety of directors and stars was usually intriguing, the very character driven X-Men, in both their older and then younger incarnations had really good stories and even  the potty mouthed Deadpool was a good laugh.   Over the last few years though the superhero genre has become a bit of an empty, computer effects driven bore.  Stunning to look at but with nothing to recommend the movies but Bang, Wham spectacle.   No longer very interesting.

The first two Venom movies however did have something going for them.   A strong British actor, Tom Hardy, in the lead as journalist Eddie Brock and his alien alter ego,  the nameless, serpent toothed being whom Eddie calls “Buddy” and who is also voiced by Hardy in very deep, Darth Varda type tones.   The smart dialogue between them was schizophrenia gone mad – and very funny.

The plot of this one, as far as I could work it out, involves another set of alien creatures, brought into being by a figure who looks a touch like one of the witches from Macbeth and is voiced by Andy Serkis – British actors give good voice over.   And it’s up to Eddie and his alter ego (are you sure this whole franchise isn’t just a metaphor for schizophrenia, film makers?) to save the world.   

They are helped and sometimes hindered by a selection of good actors, including Juno Temple as a scientist, Chiwetel Ejiofor as a military type, Stephen Graham as a policeman from the last movie, now taken over by a what looks like Buddy’s brother and Rhys Ifans as the father of an alien-obsessed family, who are following the action in a camper van.   

I note with amusement the fact that Graham and Ifans are both credited with a dialogue coach.  Possibly their speech was too clear for the American audience, whereas Hardy, Graham and Serkis have learned to mumble in the now universally approved action movie style?  

The Last Dance part of the title not only gives us a hint that this particular party may be over but gives us one of the visually wittiest moments in the film.   With his buddy’s help, at one point Eddie has made a killing on a casino’s slot machines.   To celebrate, Buddy and Peggy Lu as Venom regular Mrs Chen do a sort of Fred and Ginger dance number, which is great fun.   Can’t quite remember how she fits into this particular plot but the sequence is charming and her red frock is lovely.