'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' film review: The silly & weirdly charming monster romance no one expected
Tom Hardy goes all-in with the bonkers body horror superhero monster flick 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' (in theaters Oct. 1) - a movie that, at its weird core, is a break-up rom-com.
In short: As Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) struggles with day-to-day life with alien symbiote attached to him Venom (also voiced by Hardy), serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) get an alien symbiote of his own, becoming the murderous supervillain Carnage.
The first 2018 'Venom' film was a painfully scripted, drawn-out clunker that really just amounted to 'guy becomes host to an alien, gets superpowers.' Two hours of bad dialogue for a cookie-cutter superhero flick filled with explosions and chase sequences - in short, it was a comic book flick that took itself far too seriously. But to anyone coming into 'Carnage' with low expectations: this sequel is a crazy, violent and fun romp. And it's absolutely a relationship comedy masquerading as a comic book flick.
Tom Hardy has a resume filled with compelling dramatic performances - and 'Carnage' absolutely needs to be a part of his career highlight reel. Even with a superpowered serial killer looming over the movie, 'Carnage' is fundamentally an absurd two-hander relationship flick between the reluctant hero Eddie and his crude other half, who wants nothing more than to protect the innocent and eat brains. It's obvious Hardy and screenwriter Kelly Marcel cherrypicked what worked from the first movie and totally, gleefully leaned into this unabashedly weird and hilarious flick. Hardy pulls double duty playing two distinctly different characters fighting for control of the same body - one who just wants to live a normal life while the other wants to roam the night, eating purse snatchers.
Although most of the clunky dialogue isn't much improved from the original movie, the sequel finally gets to present the alien symbiote Venom as a dimensional character. He's loud and crass, yet oddly totally in touch with Eddie's emotions. Eddie and Venom's arguments sound less like friends ... and sound more like an old married couple. At one point Venom finds himself at a rave - because of course he would - and even in the hyper ridiculous scene where the horrifying monster is covered in glow sticks, the most surprising moment is when Venom actually seems vulnerable. Venom isn't merely Eddie's id operating on some base, lizard brain level - the alien symbiote actually has hopes and desires (beyond devouring brains). And it's this weirdly compelling dynamic that makes 'Carnage' really a story about a couple trying to reconcile their differences.
Carnage is a comic book character who really pushes the very limits of what's acceptable in comics, and this sequel similarly pushes the boundary of what qualifies as 'PG-13' and what justifies an 'R' rating. Frankly, it's a little surprising 'Carnage' - a movie wherein a superpowered serial killer brutally impales countless people and straight up eats several other innocents - was given a PG-13 rating. Although Carnage is the main attraction of the movie - because it's honestly unbelievable that such an uber-violent character could be featured in a PG-13 movie - Carnage mainly exists to force Eddie and Venom together. Woody Harrelson is well cast as the sadistic killer who murders seemingly for no reason at all. To be honest, Carnage wasn’t some uber complex villain in the comic books either - he’s simply a walking plot device. And this sequel uses Carnage much the same way - he’s a killer with superpowers. Harrelson just gets to delight in playing a gleeful anarchist who kills on a whim.
At a lean 90 minutes, director Andy Serkis has created something akin to cinematic junk food: a delicious guilty pleasure of a quick snack - empty calories and covered in sugar. For all the snobs who whine about every superhero flick looking and sounding exactly the same, 'Let There Be Carnage' throws the formula out the window, creating a sequel that's brazenly simple, fun, absurd and outrageous.
Comic book fans: stick around for the end credits scene. It's a mid-credits scene that is absolutely worth the wait. And given how precisely Tom Hardy has
Final verdict: 'Let There Be Carnage' is a delightfully strange and self-aware movie that totally commits to the silliness, while also adding a layer that is surprisingly charming.
Score: 3.5/5
'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' opens in theaters Oct. 1. This comicbook action movie is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some strong language, disturbing material and suggestive references and has a running time of 90 minutes.
