Venom’s Fading Flames: A Beloved Series Bats a Final Bow

The Waning of Venom: A FRANK Review of "Venom: The Last Dance"

Many moons ago, there was a movie called American Reunion, the final chapter in the long saga begun with American Pie. The first film was a dumb sensation, a bawdy and (especially in hindsight) wildly misogynistic comedy that turned teenage boy horniness into a suburban Grand Guignol. There were a few direct sequels (plus many direct-to-DVD spin-offs) and then American Reunion, a movie that audaciously assumed we’d been emotionally connected to these characters all along.

The Pleasure of Venom

The pleasure of the first Venom film was watching Tom Hardy, a liquid enigma of an actor, risk embarrassment. As Eddie was taken over by Venom—or, as was often the case, the two shared body and consciousness at the same time; Hardy does the alien monster’s voice as well—Hardy contorted himself into a lurching, addled grotesque.

The Waning of Venom: A Review

I thought of that film while watching Venom: The Last Dance (in theaters October 25). Here is a third and, allegedly, final installment in a franchise that was a huge hit on first outing, then was pretty quickly relegated to the junk heap of pop ephemera. The sequel sucked, and premiered at a time when interest in comic-book movies was waning. (Venom—about a journalist named Eddie (Tom Hardy) who is infected with a sentient alien entity—had its moment, and then that moment decidedly passed.)

The Last Dance

Yet The Last Dance insists that audiences have been deeply invested this whole time, operating from the assumption that we will feel some swell of emotion as Eddie and Venom say goodbye and consider what a long, strange trip it’s been. Writer-director Kelly Marcel’s film does feature something like a plot, about a bad space guy wanting to get Venom and end life on Earth or whatever, but it’s mostly a goofy, oddly contemplative hang movie, a bit of senior-year nostalgia that, like American Reunio, has not earned its wistfulness.

A Goofy, Oddly Contemplative Hang Movie

The film’s offhanded, listless vibe feels like an insult to viewers, especially those who will pay actual money to see this thing. The Last Dance seems almost begging to solely be watched on airplanes, in the soporific 90 minutes between dinner service and uneasy, upright sleep. It functions best as an accidentally found object rather than something deliberately sought out.

Talent Abounds, but So Does Listlessness

Whether or not you pay for the movie, at least a few talented actors got money for making it. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Juno Temple mill about in the background as, respectively, a military guy overseeing symbiote research under Area 51 and a passionate scientist with a backstory involving lightning. But this bizarrely edited and paced film has no room nor time to flesh out the significance of their characters’ presence. Maybe an alternate-universe version, one made with more care and patience, would explain that significance.

Conclusion

The Last Dance asks that we find this all rather poignant, but to also find that poignancy funny—because how incongruous it is, that a movie about a swearing alien should also go for sincerity! That is a tired old joke at this point, one that no longer endears. Had Deadpool & Wolverine not just made a boatload of money (sigh), I’d be tempted to say that The Last Dance represents a final chapter for far more than just Eddie of San Francisco. But, alas, it is likely only a discrete ending for one digression from the superhero norm. The rest will continue on, inevitably headed toward their own glorious American reunion.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Venom: The Last Dance about?
  • The movie is the third and final installment in the Venom franchise, following the story of journalist Eddie (Tom Hardy) who is infected with a sentient alien entity.
• How did the reviewer feel about the movie?
  • The reviewer felt that the movie was a disappointing and listless conclusion to the franchise, with a lack of invested interest from the audience.
• Will there be more Venom movies?
  • It is likely that the franchise will continue, with the sequel Deadpool & Wolverine having recently made a significant amount of money.