Marvel Studios has been hitting it out of the park lately with successful movie after successful movie. In 2018, Ruben Fleischer directed “Venom,” a film based in the “Spider-Man” universe. The film, despite making more $800 million in the box office, garnered negative reviews. Three years later, famous actor Andy Serkis took the director’s chair and released a sequel to “Venom” titled “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” The movie was released Oct. 1, 2021.
Taking place one year after the film’s predecessor, journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), who has a symbiotic relationship with an alien creature named Venom, is contacted by detective Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham) to investigate serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson). After biting Brock on death row, Kasady gains a symbiotic relationship with Carnage, the spawn of Venom, and is now on the run with his girlfriend Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris). It is up to Eddie and Venom to stop Kasady and Barrison from wreaking havoc on the city.
The film features many aspects that are very well done. One aspect that was very interesting is the relationship between Eddie and Venom. These two characters have the best relationship in the film. They have a buddy-cop relationship that is humorous throughout the movie. I really enjoyed the relationship between Eddie and Brock, and it strengthened the story throughout the film’s hour-and-a-half runtime.
I also loved the story the film followed. Had I known that Andy Serkis was the director, I would have probably not enjoyed the film as much as I did. Serkis’ directing was so genius that I genuinely thought I was not watching a Marvel film with his directing. The film has a dark tone, and it really worked, especially with the material used in the story. With the continuation of the Venom storyline, the dark tone was perfectly done with the film.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the humor and action in the film, especially the apartment fight between Eddie and Venom. The verbal argument between them was so funny, I almost fell out of my seat in the movie theater. The physical beatdown from Venom to Eddie was also quite humorous. Seeing Eddie being rag-dolled around the apartment and Venom telling Eddie to get out of his own apartment was so well done.
While there are a lot of positive aspects in the film, there were some parts that I wish could have been better. One thing that I was hoping to have more of is what Kasady and Barrison’s life was like while they were at Ravencroft Institute. I was wondering what Kasady’s motive in killing people was and why he was so obsessed with Eddie in the film. I was very uncomfortable with how obsessed and stalker-like Kasady was with Eddie.
Another thing I was not particularly interested in watching was with the character of Amanda Weying (Michelle Williams). I particularly did not care about her throughout the film, and she had no reason to be in it. Sure, she may seem vital to Eddie in the film, but she and him were no longer a thing. It was useless to have her in this film.
I did not see the mid-credits scene that Marvel is notorious for in the theater, so I watched it on my own time. I was so confused at the end of the scene. It felt like they took a scene from one of the original “Spider-Man” films and added it to the film just for the sake of adding a mid-credits scene.
Overall, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” was a good successor to the original “Venom” movie, and it was a good movie that Marvel added to their long list of films.
Title: “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”
Director: Andy Serkis
Starring: Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Naomie Harris, Michelle Williams
Genre: Superhero
If you like: “Venom,” “Spider-Man”
Shamrocks: 4 out of 5
