You can’t title a film Venom: Let There Be Carnage without signaling audiences that you’re in on the joke. The sequel to 2018’s surprising smash hit Venom sees the return of franchise star Tom Hardy as journalist Eddie Brock and his parasitic, alien symbiote, who have since become an antihero protector of San Fransisco. Andy Serkis assumes the reins of directing, best known for his pioneering contributions to the world of motion capture in The Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, and Star Wars. Hardy and Serkis do their best to build on the elements that connected with audiences, primarily the Odd Couple comedic energy between Brock and Venom. The ingredients are here for a truly bonkers, outrageous movie—and there are nuggets of brilliance throughout—but Let There Be Carnage is too bogged down by generic story responsibilities to ever fully realize it.
I wasn’t entirely immune to the film’s charms, and I suspect many fans will find exactly what they want. Hardy and Serkis seem to love the material, essentially crafting a multi-million dollar midnight movie. Venom was conceived as a Marvel Comics supervillain for Spider-Man, reaching peak popularity in the 1990s by appealing to the punk-rock sensibilities of an X-TREME version of the wall crawler. And what’s more twisted than a roided out, violent, mirror image of Spider-Man? An even more extreme version of Venom—which is how we ended up with Cletus Cassidy’s Carnage. Cassidy is a serial killer who bonds with an off-shoot symbiote, and the primary antagonist of the film (played to some effect by Woody Harrelson). But the 1990s culture that allowed Venom and Carnage to flourish feels dated and misplaced 30 years on. It doesn’t help that this sequel can’t completely divorce itself from the schizophrenic tone of the first film. The first Venom threw elements at the wall to see what stuck, letting Hardy riff his way through the movie but clinging to a generic story set in a faux-gritty world. This film can’t quite shake those aesthetic trappings. There’s not enough distinction or vibrancy in the visuals of Let There Be Carnage. Even when I’m tempted to have fun at the ludicrous ideas that Serkis is proposing, I’m soon pulled out of it by a visually-ugly world. Carnage has more personality than the first film’s primary, symbiote-based villain, but Let There Be Carnage carries the same issues: indistinct, inert set pieces in visually-murky settings, with two CGI monsters duking it out.
There are undeniably good—or at least interesting—aspects of the film. The film is short. It clocks in at a brisk 97 minutes, and more blockbusters should take note. While the CGI throughout the film is shaky, the character designs are well-executed. How these films realize Venom on-screen is a strength; Hardy nails Venom’s bruiser physique, and the sleek, milky, goopy texture of the symbiote is undeniably fun to watch. For any missteps, it seems like everyone involved is either enjoying themselves or at least enjoying the paycheck. Hardy’s name is all over this film, creatively speaking. With producing and co-story credits, he clearly has an active investment in this character and the future of this franchise. I continue to be baffled and amused by Michelle Williams’ involvement in these films. The dialogue and scenes this films asks its performers to realize with a straight face almost wins me over. The highlight of the film without dispute are the interactions between Brock and Venom. Hardy provides the performance for both the ineffectual Brock and the violent, moody voice of Venom in his head. When those scenes are playing out, the movie clicks into place. You can’t help but wish the entire movie had been 90 minutes of Hardy bicker with himself. But the movie must balance out the bizarre relationship of Brock and Venom with dutifully detours to its generic plot, intent on barreling toward a blockbuster confrontation I didn’t much care about.
Look, this is the same problem that’s plagued big-budget action movies for decades. Maybe I should just be grateful for the weirdness that did shine through. We’re guaranteed to get a third entry in this series, if not multiple appearances from Hardy’s Venom—but to reach the heights the concept is teasing, these movies need to break free from hitting the genre story checkboxes and fully embrace the zanier aspects of this character.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is playing in theaters. It runs 97 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some strong language, disturbing material and suggestive references.
