by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is the second outing of Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom teaming up in San Francisco. It also features returning characters, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), Eddie’s ex-fiancé, and Dr. Dan Lewis (Reid Scott). Venom‘s post-credit scene showed us Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), who returns in here in the sequel. The film tells us of the ever-growing connection between Eddie and Venom and finally truly introduces us to a live action version of everyone’s favorite comic book serial killer, Kasady, who feels a connection to Eddie. After an interview with Eddie, Kasady gets infected with Carnage, an “offspring” symbiote of Venom. Carnage/Kasady escapes jail to cause carnage and chaos in San Francisco, but not before breaking Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris) out of Ravencroft. This causes Venom and Eddie to reconcile their differences and forces them into the fight to save Anne and the city.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is one of the better on-screen adaptations of Venom and Carnage. The film handles the depth of these characters really well and makes you care for them and what they have been through. There is some extremely excellent camera work here. The scene where Kasady breaks out of prison is one of the best action sequences of the movie. Andy Serkis’ directing is phenomenal and the cinematography is top-notch. Hardy again puts in the work as Eddie Brock and is still the best version of Eddie we have seen. Harrelson puts in the over-the-top crazy serial killer in the best way possible. The immediate bond Carnage and Kasady have is true to the comics and shows how they can work together to achieve each their goals, whereas Venom and Eddie are still struggling with each other and don’t work together until they are forced to.
Harris is a fantastic addition to this cast, but her character seems thrown into the movie and a lot of her plot brings it down. Even though she is great, her character seems to be a way to bridge the film from act one to act three. How Carnage treats her is really reflective, because he doesn’t care for her like Kasady does, which starts a rift between them. Whereas Venom cares about Eddie and Anne, and doesn’t want to be there just for the ride. This movie works and is lightyears better than the previous film, and it sets up more truly exciting things to come.
Grade: B
Venom: “Can you hurry up so we can get to the spoilers already? This is my movie you are reviewing.”
Well, Venom asked for it, so let’s get into the spoilers and why this movie does work. Venom: Let There Be Carnage works because of its humor and understanding of what story it’s trying to tell, and by the heart it gives. We are finally seeing a live action version of Carnage — something Spiderman fans thought they would never see. Venom chooses to stay on earth and gets pissed that he’s not able to eat people and has to eat chocolate and chickens because of a chemical he needs. He constantly fights with Eddie, but Venom is there for him when Anne drops a big bombshell on Eddie.
Venom: “That she is marrying stupid Dr. Dan and not Eddie.”
Venom, this is my review, but like another funny anti-hero movie, this story is a love story about Eddie thinking he wants to be with Anne, when in reality he needs to work out things with Venom. Then Kasady sees Frances as his only source of light and goodness in his life. The movie doesn’t go too far in trying to redeem Kasady, which is great because he is a psychopathic serial killer who doesn’t need redemption. Dragging Frances (a.k.a. Shriek, for you comic book fans) along is mainly there because of her supersonic voice power, which basically provides a way to kill Carnage.
Venom: “Yeah, she was pointless and sucked because she tried to kill me too.”
The final fight was great, but not as amazing as it could have been. The prison escape scene was better, because even with the low light, in some scenes you could still figure out what was going on, whereas in the final battle, the darkness is kicked up a bit and kind of loses focus with what’s going on. What does make the final fight better is the fact that Carnage owns Venom, and if Shriek and Dr. Dan weren’t there, Carnage probably would have won that battle — in fact, he almost did. The final fight is brutal and it’s amazing that everyone survives up until Venom finally gets the upper hand.
Venom: “Okay, fine, he did almost kill me, but he also tasted really bad. I’m just glad I finally got to eat some heads.”
Yeah, so even though this movie is rated PG-13 and the gore is far more tamed and toned down than it should have been, Venom does get to bite off the heads of some people. So if that bothers you, then maybe avoid this one. Venom: Let There Be Carnage is an insanely bonkers movie, but in the best way possible. All in all, this film was great. There is something that made it absolutely amazing, and that is the implications of what the post-credits scene sets up for us. When Venom premiered in 2018 and showed me Cletus freaking Kasady, I was pumped because I couldn’t wait to finally see Carnage on screen. Venom Let There Be Carnage does not disappoint. Its post-credits scene teases us with the Marvelous and exciting news that SPOILER ALERT Venom has fallen into the MCU. A post-credits scene like this one is something to go to a theater for because the fan reaction was phenomenal.
I fully recommend Venom: Let There Be Carnage.It is an excellent follow-up. Without the post-credits, scene I would give it a B. But with the post-credits scene, it gets an A.
Venom: “That’s right. Go see my movie. I am also excited to go find that Spider guy the news anchor was yelling about.”
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