Venom: Let There Be Carnage is out this weekend in Irish cinemas and with it comes the long-awaited return of everyone’s favourite power couple. That’s right folks Venom (Tom Hardy) and Eddie (Tom Hardy) are back and they are dealing with many relationship woes. They have to deal with their conflicting needs, their almost constant fights and an accidental child. This child comes in the form of Carnage (Woody Harrelson) aka the psychotic fusion of Cleetus Kassidy (Woody Harrelson) and Eddie’s symbiotic blood.
The story of Venom: Let There Be Carnage is incredibly loose. Eddie meets Cleetus, gets bitten by him and the symbiote infused “hero” loses a little bit of himself and that little bit grows into a bouncing baby symbiote. This new symbiote has one thing on its mind – The complete annihilation of its progenitor.
Here unto carnage comes
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a lot of fun, now the majority of it is trashy fun but it is fun nonetheless. The returning characters are as bonkers as they were in the previous film and the new characters, in particular Cleetus, are equally up to the task. If there was one character who didn’t shine it is sadly Naomie Harris. Her character Frances aka Shriek is simply in the film for one thing, her impressive vocal cords.
It’s a shame because Naomie is a great actor given nothing to do in this film except wait for Cleetus to save her and then do some relatively benign evil deeds. Now Cleetus on the other hand is a mess of a character. He is written so strangely and over the top that I couldn’t take my eyes off him when he and Carnage were on screen. Also visually Carnage is a different beast to Venom. While Venom is all brute force and blades, Carnage is projectiles and piercing. There is a distinct difference in these symbiotes that was missing in the previous film’s other symbiotes.
What may kill this film for you is how it treats its leads. Venom and Eddie have such an odd dynamic and it’s evolved since the previous film. How new director Andy Serkis handles their relationship is pitch-perfect in my opinion. They are the sweetest couple and oddly relatable. This isn’t monstrous, ultimate badass Spidey villain, this is a twisted but sweet anti-hero. Audiences will either love this evolution or hate it.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a brilliantly flawed film. The story is intimate, the characters over the top. There are no earth-shattering stakes, just a simple brawl between two men and their intimate partners.
Stay tuned to Scannain for more news, reviews and interviews.