Almost three years after the release of “Venom,” fans are dying to know how “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” stacks up against the original.
The sequel stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, and Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kassidy. It was produced by Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures, as well as Tencent Pictures and Columbia Pictures.
After the first film performed very well in the box office but was bashed by critics for its poor writing and coordination, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” was both widely anticipated and scrutinized.
I can happily say that the film was worth the wait and a great improvement from the first movie. It is by no means perfect, but it was a lot better than the first.
I’ll start with the aspects I liked. Similar to the first movie, the visual effects did not disappoint. The light bouncing off of the Venom and Carnage symbiotes looked convincing and well-rendered.
I really liked Eddie Brock’s interactions with the Venom symbiote. Most of the scenes were funny when they were meant to be funny and serious when they were meant to be serious. This comes down to Tom Hardy’s performance and good writing.
Another really cool part that surprised me was the animated segment. I felt like it fit well in the story and achieved what it set out to accomplish.
All that being said, the film was not flawless.
The scenes that feature Venom without the presence of Eddie Brock felt weird to me. I am not entirely sure what they were trying to accomplish with them, but they made me, as a viewer, feel weird. I felt that the majority of the solo scenes simply went on too long.
Another thing that bothered me was that the news scenes they used informed too much of the plot. From a narrative standpoint, I think it’s fine to have scenes take place on the news once, maybe twice, but they did it to the point where it was excessive and annoyed me.
One more thing that bothered me was the pacing of the movie. It seemed like it reached the finale very quickly and that the final fight was a little too long. There seemed like a lot of things that either had to be tied up or had to be set up for future movies.
These are all cool but the thing that everyone is talking about is the post-credits scene. Without spoiling it, I will say it is worth going to see “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” just for the post-credit scene, alone.
I would recommend this film if you enjoyed the first movie or if you enjoy the Marvel Universe. However, if you are going into this expecting an Oscar-worthy performance, you might be disappointed. Overall, I give this movie one thumbs-up.
