This trilogy-closer is purportedly Tom Hardy’s final time playing the titular antihero – yeah, I’m not convinced.
One thing I am sure about, though, is how middle-of-the road the Venom flicks have been as they called back to the more choppy, pre-Christopher Nolan Batman and MCU comic-book waters.
Not many trilogies have three different directors but, perhaps down to the poor critical and, to some extent, commercial performance, here we have another filmmaker behind the camera – Kelly Marcel, who makes her helming debut after co-writing the previous two Venom outings.
Remarkably, despite the directorial changes, The Last Dance remains similar in tone, aesthetic and execution to its predecessors, which maybe speaks of studio interference as Sony continue to struggle to assemble a coherent live-action Spider-Verse .
The Last Dance is certainly an improvement on Let There Be Carnage , though, and probably the best of the trilogy.
This is mainly due to the increased stakes in Marcel and leading man Hardy’s script as Venom and Eddie not only have to fight for themselves but the whole universe.
While the tone remains too comedic at times, I still get a kick out of Hardy’s physical comedy antics and he creates a believable bond with a CGI creation.
Rhys Ifans ( Martin ) has good fun too as an alien-obsessed hippy and there is a cavalcade of symbiotes lining up to either lend a hand or try to bite one off.
Other characters like Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Strickland , Juno Temple’s Dr Paine and the returning Stephen Graham’s Detective Mulligan are given next-to-no development, however, and the series continues to struggle to inflict evil upon us as although the threat of Knull (Andy Serkis) is proclaimed often, we see little of him.
The frantic finale is, as ever, CGI heavy but exciting, entertaining and gets everyone involved.
The Last Dance is no wonderful waltz or belly flop as it effectively closes the door on Hardy’s ballroom blitz… for now.
● Which of the Venom flicks is your favourite? Would you like to see the character return?
Pop me an email at [email protected] and I will pass on your comments to your fellow readers.
● Venom: The Last Dance is showing in cinemas now.
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