Venom: The Last Dance - A Pretty Conclusive Movie to Wrap the Venom Trilogy

My wife and I were looking forward to see this movie during the weekend, but it was quite challenging as we had to attend a wedding ceremony on that day. So after the event, we went to a cinema not far from our home where luckily our favorite seats were still available. All right then, I'll dive into the movie.

Brief Story Line

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy - The Bikeriders, Capone etc) who had become fugitive was trying to avoid capture and decided to escape to New York city. While on the run, Eddie met with a family of Alien enthusiasts Martin (Rhys Ifans - House of the Dragon TV series, Official Secrets etc), his wife Nova (Alanna Ubach - Coco, Legally Blonde etc) and their two children and hitch a hike to Las Vegas.

Meanwhile scientists Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple - Ted Lasso TV series etc) was working together with Commander Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor - Doctor Strange in the Mutiverse of Madness, Locked Down etc) in analyzing the symbiotes. Through their investigation, they found out the existence of powerful being named Knull (Andy Serkis - The Batman etc). He was looking for something inside Venom & Eddie and tasked his army of vicious creatures called Xenophage to capture him.

So what would happen to Eddie as he was being targeted by both the US army and also the Xenophage? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

This was the first time I saw Venom movie without seeing its trailer at all. Somehow it was not shown in any of the films I saw in cinemas previously and I did not look for it either, so I had no idea what to expect. During the early part, both of us were having a bit of difficulty in catching up cause the Second movie was almost 3 years before and we kind of forgot the story. But slowly we managed to remember it and we were able to understand it better. It was helped by the different direction the movie was heading (it no longer touched Eddie's previous work or even his ex girlfriend). 

Most of the first half of the film had a light tone where it focused a lot on Eddie and Venom's effort to escape the pursuit with plenty of humorous banter between the two of them. It was combined with several brief exciting scenes involving those Xenophages. After a while, my wife and I already guessed how the film would have ended through hints that were dropped few times. The movie became really entertaining once we reached the climax part. The action supported by wonderful special effects and awesome sound effects made it fun and enjoyable. And the ending turned out to be just as per our guess. 

As far as trilogy goes, this one was quite OK and provided a proper conclusion to the story of Venom. But for the continuity of this Sony's Spider-man Universe (SSU), not sure it was really satisfying. From what I read, they were planning to have future story focusing on Knull and probably with other anti heroes from the Marvel's collection. Btw, the movie had a duration of 109 minutes which was pretty short but not as short as the second one. It had 1 mid end credit scene and 1 post end credit scene in case you are wondering. It was written and directed by Kelly Marcel in her directorial debut (her prior experience was the writer for Fifty Shades of Grey and two previous Venom movies).

Tom Hardy as usual was perfect playing this character and amazingly he also provided the voice of Venom. The rest of the cast were so so and only few persons who reprised the role from previous movies i.e. Stephen Graham (Greyhound etc) as Patrick Mulligan, Peggy Lu as Mrs. Chen and brief appearance of Cristo Fernandez as the bartender.  There was also another important support cast of Clark Backo (The Changelling TV series etc) as Dr. Teddy's fellow scientist nicknamed "Christmas". 

Overall this was a movie that was pretty conclusive for Venom and Eddie Brock, even though it might seemed a bit simplistic. The action was a bit lacking in the first half as they were only shown sporadically, but the climax fights were quite worthwhile and had a bit of emotional moment that affected my wife. It might not be the best superhero action film out there (as proven by its mixed reception by critics), but it was still enjoyable for me and my wife. So if you like Venom, then this one is a must-see to find out how it concluded. However, do not expect the calibre of a great third movie such as Star Wars Return of the Jedi, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King or the more recent ones like War for the Planet of the Apes or Logan.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars