2018’s ‘Venom’ wasn’t an outright rare stumble when it comes to Marvel fare…though, to be fair, it was produced under the banner of Columbia Pictures, the studio that holds a small nugget of the MCU that Disney hasn’t entirely got their mouse mitts on. It WAS a little wobbly though, certainly not up to par with what we’ve come to expect from all-things-superhero. And with ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’, it appears this particular character has yet to find his footing.
Directed by Andy Serkis, an individual better known as a master of CGI-enhanced creatures (Gollum from ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Planet of the Apes’ Casar, King Kong, etc.), ‘Venom’ would seem the perfect playground for a film maker such as this, as the yarn is pretty much relentless visual chaos with a script swimming around somewhere in the sea of goo. But the writing team, in trying to win the day, consistently tries to wrestle the spotlight away from the parade of special effects, focusing on the banter between Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and the vicious alien sharing his brain space.
I’m guessing someone behind the camera believes their back-and-forth is comic gold, milking ‘gems’ such as “We should be out there, snacking on bad guys”. It is not. And so, for a sequel that boasts dark edge (oh, it IS gory, I can tell you that), this is a wee too silly very early out of the gate….and only picks up steam in the goofy department as it rolls on.
The bright spot is Woody Harrelson, who logged a brief cameo at the end of the first film. Playing Cletus, the serial killer human host to nasty villain Carnage, the versatile Harrelson employs a handful of roles past; he’s sometimes sly and mischievous, often outright psychotic and….sorry, Hardy fans….acts circles around the film’s hero. It’s not the first time the bad guy has been way more entertaining than the protagonist on film, but not often is it this apparent.
Will you see it? Well, if you’re a Marvel fan, you likely will….especially since the traditional treat in the middle of the post credits finally links Venom to a friendly neighbourhood wall crawler we all know and love. But hey, I’m not one to play spoiler