At what point does a bad film become good? It is possible to acknowledge that a narrative barely makes any sense, yet still find it enjoyable? If Tom Hardy dresses in a tuxedo, does that automatically put him in contention to be James Bond?
These are the questions that one thinks while watching Venom: The Last Dance (aka Venom 3)
Let’s address this right off the top: Venom: The Last Dance (2024) is not a good movie. The narrative is both too brisk and too meandering to satisfy. It has a boring subplot involving a family on a road trip to see aliens at Area 51 that only exists so they can be rescued in the climax. And there’s some mildly gross ableism involving a character who lost the use of her arm after being struck by lightning whose injury is healed by an alien symbiote.
And yet…none of that truly matters. Venom: The Last Dance isn’t taking itself seriously and neither should audiences. This is a superhero series that stopped caring about anything other than being a silly action franchise back in its first entry when star Tom Hardy went bobbing for lobsters in a fancy restaurant. Then the second outing was so stereotypically queer that it could have been accused of pandering if it weren’t so gosh-darn dumb.
Written and directed by Kelly Marcel (with a co-story credit to Hardy), The Last Dance picks up right from the end of the second film, which saw Venom and Eddie Brock return to their correct Earth. The issue? They’re charged with the murder of Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham), a police officer left for dead in Carnage’s wreckage from movie #2.
Forced to hide from the police, as well as an alien hunter searching for something called The Codex (aka the film’s “who could care?” MacGuffin), Venom and Eddie wind up hitching a ride with the road tripping family led by Martin Moon (Rhys Ifan).
This intersects with the dismantling of Area 51. The not-so-secret military base is Nevada is overseen by one-armed scientist/alien sympathizer Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple), as well as military man Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who vows to capture and/or kill Venom when he believes aliens are coming to resettle the planet.
The whole film is a series of sometimes exciting and frequently very dumb Venom-related shenanigans wrapped up in a generic (often nonsensical) sci-fi plot fuelled by new villain Knull (Andy Serkis – wasted). For the sake of expediency, audiences simply need to accept that in The Last Dance, Venom can’t fully transform without alerting the bounty hunter.
Oh, also: the only way to guarantee the safety of the planet and the human race is for either Venom or Eddie to die.
Those are the stakes. Got it? Sure (whatever)!
The arbitrary sidelining of full-blown Venom is a plot requirement that kinda/sorta pays off in the climax, but it does mean that there’s significantly less Venom action throughout the first two acts. The symbiote is fond, however, of peeking its head out from behind Eddie’s back or out of his chest when they’re having a conversation, so rest assured that the big black guy is still very much a presence in the film.
If there’s an emotional arc, the title says it all. The fatalistic parameters of the narrative gives the Venom/Brock relationship a slightly forlorn air as they come to grips with what may be their final adventure. Cue the plans to see the Statue of Liberty in NY and a good deal of reminiscing about the one year they’ve spent together.*
*The mention of an anniversary is the closest the film comes to once acknowledging the queerness of the pairing. Still, Venom, the character, does enjoy a good song and dance, which continues to lend the alien some gentle queer-coding.
At the end of the day, Venom: The Last Dance will appeal to fans of the previous two films. He’s still an enjoyably cheeky alien, though Hardy’s performance often feels half-baked and less engaged than in previous entries. Still, there’s enough here for a soft recommend.
As a “good” film with arcs and a well-constructed plot…it’s not great.
As a popcorn flick where you park your brain and enjoy watching Venom bite off people’s heads for an hour and forty minutes, it’s dumb fun. 3/5
Venom: The Last Dance is now in theatres