Venom 2 Review: Tom Hardy Chews Every Bit Of Let There Be Carnage

Venom doesn’t thrive in the superhero genre. Yes, the Marvel Comics symbiote is an alien substance that grants superpowers to its human host, but its least interesting mode is that of a lethal protector. Venom became popular because he was the dark version of Spider-Man, and changing him from villain to vigilante dulled his attitude and appeal in the late 90s. Over the years, the character has undergone transformation after transformation on the page, from an alien-powered supersoldier to a space knight to a cosmic god, distancing him from his roots as the great black and white Spidey with sharp teeth and a saliva tongue. .

But nothing has pushed Venom as far from its roots as the current version of the film, which completely bypasses Spider-Man and uses symbiote / host dynamics as a source of humor. From 2018 Poison He saw a selfish and opportunistic idiot terrorized by an alien taking over his mind and body. Now, in the aftermath, the couple have to learn to live together without racking up a death toll. Poison: Let there be slaughter he’s at his best when he shifts away from superheroes and leans toward romantic comedy and body horror, highlighting the complications of living with a partner who is hungry for human flesh.

Tom Hardy once again plays journalist Eddie Brock and voices the alien who makes Eddie’s life hell. Hardy also co-wrote the story with screenwriter Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey), allowing the film to lean on the strengths of a grizzled heavyweight who happens to be a great physical comedian. Although it suffers from some of the problems of the first film, mainly a superficial villain and disappointing action, Hardy’s ownership of Let there be slaughter has had a clear impact, with the movie bringing back the electric character dynamics of the original, and getting to the weird and bizarre things much earlier.

Joining Hardy in this more comedic endeavor is director Andy Serkis, the performance-catching acting pioneer known for his work as Gollum on The Lord of the rings and Caesar in recent Planet Of The Apes movies. Serkis’ involvement allows CGI Venom to take on a true co-star role alongside Hardy. Eddie’s conversations with his clingy partner have an antagonistic charge, and the symbiote takes on a more playful personality thanks to the clever implementation of Venom’s powers in Eddie’s personal and professional life. At the beginning, the movie play like a crazy mix of Ratatouille and The silence of the lambs, with Woody Harrelson playing the role of Hannibal Lecter as the serial killer Cletus Kasady.

Since the events of the first PoisonEddie’s symbiote friend has made him a better investigative reporter. When Eddie interviews Kasady on death row, Venom scans the area for clues and memorizes the drawings on the walls of Kasady’s cell. Later, Venom recreates everything he saw in prison by whipping Eddie’s body around his apartment, grabbing drawing materials that Eddie burns at high speed. Serkis directs the scene with the frenzied energy of a clown. And the crazier the better. In one scene, Venom prepares breakfast for Eddie while singing “Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off,” a gleefully absurd sequence that reinforces the way these characters operate far beyond the typical superhero mold.

Eddie and Venom have reached a point in their relationship where Venom is not humiliating his host with wildly antisocial behavior, which is actually a bit disappointing; finally, Let there be slaughter never gets to the embarrassing comedy high of the first Poisonfish tank scene Eddie has the occasional Venom-driven public outburst, but more of the humor comes from Venom berating and belittling the reporter. the Little horror shop the vibrations are still strong, and the one responsible for Eddie’s success is also his biggest headache because he’s damned brain-hungry. And not the popcorn chicken brains: Venom wants those big, meaty human brains, and he doesn’t have much patience for Eddie’s scruples about murder.

In a meager 97 minutes, Poison: Let there be slaughter It doesn’t suffer from the kind of loose midsection that weighs on so many forward-action superhero movies. In fact, the second act is when Venom really shines as a character. He is tired of living in a host who does not appreciate what he does for him and does not let him eat the criminals who stop, so he decides to take his gifts elsewhere. Filled with self-righteous rage, Venom digs his claws into the side of Eddie’s cute little upgraded two-wheeler and explores the city on his own, leaping from melee and presumably killing every new host along the way.

This ultimately leads Venom to a rave, where he positions himself as a champion of alien acceptance and free love. With rapper Little Simz (who just released an exceptional new album, sometimes i’m introverted), this scene has been called Venom’s Time to “get out”. While that’s a powerful stretch, it does the heavy lifting of defining who Venom is without Eddie in a funny and unexpected circumstance.

As for Venom and Eddie’s relationship, it’s not a substitute for the kind of genuine queer portrayal superhero movies lack, and Sony Pictures doesn’t get points for a queer-coded bond between a male human and an expressed symbiotic stain. by the same actor. At the same time, their intimacy gives the story a fascinating romantic undertone, which is often played to make people laugh, but also has a genuine emotional interest.

Michelle Williams’ had one of the funniest moments of the first Poison with her legendary line that reads “I’m sorry for Venom,” but that little acknowledgment of Venom’s importance in her ex-boyfriend’s life fuels Anne’s character arc in the sequel. He may have moved on to a new man (Reid Scott), but he still cares about Eddie, and he’s one of the few people who truly understands the otherworldly situation he’s trapped in. Anne is much more active when she is not chained to an ingrate. love interest role, which instead goes to Naomie Harris, who plays Kasady’s childhood lover, Frances Barrison.

Frances’s character is a total waste of an Academy Award-nominated actor, and the script has no interest in going beyond the most basic stereotypes about mental illness and romantic partners in crime. Meanwhile, the role of Kasady feels tailor-made for Harrelson, an actor who can play a sinister overblown with a sense of humor, though the execution disappoints. This isn’t a character that requires subtlety, but unfortunately, Harrelson doesn’t have much to do besides poking fun at the camera and offering cheesy catchphrases like “something wicked is coming this way.” The film attempts to humanize Kasady through his tragic romance with Frances, but does so at the expense of Carnage’s threat.

The PG-13 rating doesn’t help either. Let there be slaughter It is based on a bloodthirsty alien and a serial killer; an R rating might have made them both more threatening. The movie doesn’t show or describe Kasady’s previous murders in any kind of detail, and when he finally wins his own symbiote, the most hair-raising violence is involved. Mature DC movies like Birds of prey and Suicide squad It has really upped the ante in terms of fighting choreography and gory special effects for superhero violence, and if you have a villain named Carnage, you want him to live up to his name.

Venom is a character rooted in sci-fi horror, but his scariest moment in this movie is a close-up of him escaping from his last dead host, emphasizing the suffocating slimy of the alien creature. That moment is tactile and terrifying in a way that the most dramatic visual shots are not. Red Vines’ prominent placement in a gas station scene feels like a joke to the way the titular symbiotes look like licorice monsters when fighting, and though symbiote battles aren’t as muddy as the first movie. , they still have a long way to go. of weight. The fluid symbiote images that look so great in static comic art are difficult to translate into live action, but maybe the movies have to think beyond human hosts. The story of 2008’s “Old Man Logan”, the inspiration behind the 2017 movie, Logan, had the Venom symbiote joins a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Bringing a dash of the imagination that Hardy devotes to character work to the endless possibilities of the franchise’s action scenes would definitely have audiences cheering for him.

After two deliveries, it seems that the Poison movies can always fall into the same symbiote action trap over and over again. But ideally, these sequences will get shorter and shorter, allowing more time for the dysfunctionally affective relationship that gives this franchise its allure. Perhaps the sequel can be a domestic dramedy in the vein of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, with Eddie and Venom inviting another couple for a drink to air out all their luggage. Or go even crazier with genre browsing. Spider-Man had a musical, why not Venom? Eddie and Venom could be the next Fred and Ginger if Hollywood gave them the chance. Let these two eat heads and become the superstar that they are meant to be.

Poison: Let there be slaughter opens in theaters on October 1.