Rating: 2/5 stars

When will action and superhero filmmakers stop making cheap, lackluster movies that leave audiences feeling confused and unamused?

Of course, there is a time and place for movies that only fill a certain role like comedy or easy watch, but the genre of superhero movies has turned into either a quick cash grab with no depth or Marvel trying to create the next big movie that tackles time and space. 

“Venom: The Last Dance” falls into the first category of cheap story writing to finish a very underwhelming trilogy. When the first movie of the trilogy was released, fans anticipated an exciting and gritty performance, specifically with Tom Hardy’s credentials from his previous performances as Bane in “Dark Knight Rises,” but Sony had missed the mark again with boring plotlines and subpar acting from supporting cast. 

While this movie feels like one of the strongest of the trilogy, the acting and depth of characters were almost unbearable at some points. The general Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor, “The Pod Generation”), felt painful to watch him figuring out his motivations for things, and his acting felt directionless. 

And it seems we still have not moved away from one-dimensional female characters in superhero films even in 2024 with Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple, “Ted Lasso”). The female doctor added nothing to the plot, and her side storyline with flashbacks and cuts felt extremely pointless and only a filler to add more minutes to the movie. Although it seems the movie was trying to set up a spin-off with her character having powers, that idea has no depth and would not attract audiences who have no connection to the character to see a whole movie about her. 

Hardy’s performance of Venom truly carries the film, adding a lot of comedic relief that is funny allowing audience members to laugh during ridiculous plot points. The humor of the movie was good, and maybe because of certain ridiculous elements of the plot, the humor was able to be a main focal point. The family that helps Eddie and Venom was also a great highlight to the movie. Seeing an odd family traveling to Area 51 to see aliens, added enough ridiculousness and humor to accompany Hardy’s character. 

A lot of moments in the movie just felt like filler points. With a really weird dance montage of Venom dancing to a remix of “Dancing Queen,” the movie again just felt ridiculous. Sony seems to not be able to make these superhero films the right way. It seems they will be in over their heads, trying to set up a cinematic universe, but with nothing interesting or with depth to set up so the end credit seems completely pointless and unnecessary. 

Sony needs to go back to the basics and stop trying to copy Marvel’s multiverse world because even Marvel cannot always do it correctly. These companies seem to think fans want these crazy connections, but really they want good storylines and a good mixture of action scenes and compelling, heartwarming characters. 

“Venom: The Last Dance” has all of the ingredients to make this work but fails with lazy storylines and set-ups.

Image via venom.movie