Film Review: Venom – Let There Be Carnage

Director: Andy Serkis
Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Woody Harrelson
Running time: 97 minutes

Venom: Let There Be Carnage isn’t a great movie, or even a good movie – in fact, it’s quite a bad one. And yet, there’s something lovable about it. It’s rare to find a movie quite so self-aware of its own absurdity, consisting of creative choices that wouldn’t be out of place in a Tommy Wiseau feature, but this tight 97-minute movie crafted by Andy Serkis is exactly that. 

The story penned by Tom Hardy and Kelly Marcel is unlike anything else in the superhero genre in that it plays almost like a rom-com, with Eddie Brock (Hardy) and his symbiote companion Venom (also Hardy) bickering like an old married couple about fighting crime and whose brains are fair game to eat. Throw in some bizarre performances from Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady/Carnage and Naomie Harris as Shriek for good measure, and the result is the mishmash playing in theatres right now.

Perhaps the greatest flaw of the movie though is in its action, doing very little to separate itself from the far greater offerings of the MCU. The PG-13 rating – an astonishingly mild 15 by UK standards – bestowed upon the movie somewhat restricts Serkis from throwing the movie into the horror and (forgive me) the carnage that would elevate it. Instead, audiences are treated to action scenes akin to a child slamming two toys together as the climactic fight takes place in a dimly lit cathedral with little to make it stand out from the crowded field it finds itself in, particularly coming on the heels of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Let There Be Carnage does have some standout beats, though. Hardy throws himself further into the weirdness that oozed from his first outing and his ex-girlfriend Anne is played with surprising relish by Michelle Williams, whilst Peggy Lu steals the show as Mrs. Chen. The internal dialogue between Brock and Venom is amped up to eleven and so full of cheese that it’ll frustrate some viewers, but it brought a smile to my face.

Approaching this movie can be tricky. It’s hard to view it in the same vein as an MCU flick which is written and produced to the highest standard. Venom: Let There Be Carnage simply wants to have fun, and it accomplishes that. Don’t expect a masterpiece – just let the movie engulf you like a symbiote for a fun night at the movies.

Did you know? Ruben Fleischer, director of the first film, said that he saw a “natural connection” between the character Cletus Kasady and Woody Harrelson’s performance in Natural Born Killers. “We had this awesome dinner in London, when I was over there one time, with Tom, where Woody was also in London, and we all hung out. I think that's actually what sealed the deal,” he told Collider.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is in cinemas now