Venom: Let There Be Carnage

2021, Andy Serkis (Breathe) -- download

I petulantly dislike the first Venom movie. I tried to like it, I even wanted to at least be amused by it, but my annoyance at it wins out over any enjoyment I get out of it. That dislike makes me grumpy.

I think the sequel might accomplish the act of making me even more annoyed.

Go read the Ken't (his Kryptonian name) review of the first one, as I can so easily just lift lines he wrote then and apply them to THIS one.

In fact, I will. Lazy writing powers ON !

Venom: Let There Be Carnage, "... as a film, is pretty nonsensical." Brock is still a complete loser, but still somehow makes money enough to live in a decent apartment in San Francisco. In an apartment that Venom wrecks (there are holes in the ceiling but no angry landlord) and raises chickens. Well, only the two that are left: Sony & Cher. Venom now lives by eating chickens and chocolate to get that brain chemical he needs to survive, because Eddie has finally decided that eating people is bad. Even bad people.

"Venom has its own personality and the two have conversations which are marginally amusing but don't really make a lick of sense.  Eddie's motivations and Venom's motivations seem like two separate and distinct things and not all that complimentary."

And yet, that is supposed to be part of the appeal of how the characters interact. At least in this one, Eddie seems kind of fed up, like two lovers having a continuous spat. And again, Venom seems more petulant teenager than AN ALIEN FROM ANOTHER PLANET. The abusive relationship metaphor is thinly veiled, and yet we are supposed to want them to stay together. Weird mixed messages.

"The story structure and pacing of Venom feels completely off, such that the progression of relationships doesn't flow properly, and the intent of characters from one moment to the next never seems certain.  Why is anyone really doing what they're doing?  The movie doesn't seem to care, why should we?"

Yup. Brock is trying again to resurrect some assemblance of a career, having never recovered from the screwups in the last movie. So, when he gets a chance to interview Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson, The Hunger Games), he jumps at the chance. Meanwhile, we have been given some abusive background story to Kasady, including his mutant (is she related to Banshee?) girlfriend Frances, and the prison/asylum/orphanage they grew up in. The final bit of that scene is weird, as it implies he is locked away, but we know that, as an adult, he becomes a serial killer, which is why Brock goes to see him. Brock seems even more the idiot, not catching any hints or allusions Kasady throws his way, so much so that Venom has to turn his head and make him LOOK at Kasady's cell and all the scratch-scratch work there. Of course, ALL the details as to where Kasady has hidden the bodies (like all good serial killers do) is there on the wall, and NOBODY has seen it or noticed the significance, not until an alien attached to an INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER deciphers it all.

Eddie reveals the truth behind things, gains acclaim again, and it sentences Kasady to death. That is NOT what Kasady hoped for from the interaction, but to be honest, for a while I thought it was. There just didn't seem to be any reason for it all, but when Brock returns for more (hopefully Venom noticed) scoops, he just gets more Kasady ranting. And Venom just wants to eat him. But before it can escalate, Kasady bites Eddie's finger and gets a bit of Venomized blood. That sounds dangerous; I hope Eddie diposes with his other bodily fluids very carefully.

"The action in the film ranges from utterly generic to unappealingly ugly."

Eventually Kasady, now calling him/itself Carnage (where do the symbiotes come up with these stupid fratboyish names?) wants to kill Eddie, and rescue his GF, who he learns was not dead all these years, just trapped away in another asylum/prison/hospital.

Stomp stomp stomp, kill kill kill, petulant arguing, I nodded off.

Eddie and Venom break up and the latter runs around tearing up buildings and interrupting party goers on Halloween. You would think the city would have one of their own metahumans dealing with the thing lowering property values all over town. Also, Venom kills numerous randos as he tries to find an alternate host.

I nodded off.

Big fight scene in a ... Church? It does not bode well that I could not keep focus on the climax of a movie. But then again, despite having seen the first one about 2 and three quarters, I don't recall the big boss battle at all. But I remember it was on a rocket, so someone has now decided that all Venom boss battles have to take place vertically. I guess the next one will have Venom on the Empire State Building waving big claws at circling biplanes?

I did like the end, where whatever happened in the fight scene happened, and Eddie and Venom retire to a beach side apartment, and have a conversation about the things the symbiotes have seen all across the multiverse. Apparently the number one rule about multiverse club is don't talk about multiverse club, because a bit of flickering later, Eddie is now in ... the MCU ? We can only assume. Given we know MCU Spidey will meet Sam Raimi Spidey, he might even end up knowing about symbiotes. Should be (more) interesting.