The latest Venom movie was released on Oct. 25, 2024, and is Kelly Marcel’s directorial debut. Marcel and Tom Hardey, who plays Eddie Brock and Venom, wrote the script in June of 2022. It took a while to produce the movie due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, but it has been welcomed at the box office with it grossing around $394 million worldwide.
The plot follows Eddie and Venom as they are on the run from authorities in connection with the death of Patrick Mulligan and the destruction from their battle with Carnage in the last movie. Eddie hopes that if they can make it to New York and he can connect with a judge friend of his that he can get his name cleared.
However, this plan is quickly derailed as they get hunted down by both the US government and an alien creature that wants to bring Venom to the creator of the symbiotes. This leads to a big battle at Area 51 between the government, the aliens called Xenophages and several symbiotes that were being held captive at Area 51.
If this sounds like a lot, it is. The pacing is off with several unnecessary scenes in the movie. There was also a lot of lore that is dropped in what is supposed to be the last movie in the trilogy with a discussion of a symbio rebellion against their creator for no clear reason and his need for revenge against symbiotes.
To add to the new lore, there are several new symbiotes that the characters meet, only for them to be killed off to save Eddie/Venom from the symbio hunter. This movie could be split into two movies with one villain in each or more flushed-out character motivations.
That being said, “Venom: The Last Dance” was a fun and campy superhero movie to watch. It doesn’t seem to take itself as seriously as the Marvel movies which made it fun to watch, and it is nice to see Eddie/Venom interact with one another.
Rating 8/10
