Despite my qualms I had with the first Venom film, I did have some high hopes with the upcoming sequel when I saw the first film’s post-credit scene.
While I have stated I am not an expert in comic book lore, I feel I know enough to know that Woody Harrelson would be the perfect actor to play the villainous Cletus Kasady/Carnage. Even with him added on to this universe, the result is still a basic run of the mill action packed CGI fest. It is a shame, since there are a decent amount of moments in Venom: Let there be Carnage that had me smiling almost like a symbiote invested entity would.
Picking up not long after the first film, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) seems way past his heyday as a journalist. The only source he has happens to be the notorious Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), the serial killer on death row who will only talk to Eddie. The one glimmer of hope is Kasady’s depraved live is his childhood sweetheart Frances Barrison (Naomi Harris), AKA Shriek, because,…you know….her power is the ability to shriek. Eventually, Kasady gets a part of the symbiote lodged with him, and becomes Carnage.
Meanwhile, Brock is having his own issues with Venom, as it seems clear the two have relationship issues (to say the least). This is not helped by the fact that Eddie’s ex, Anne (Michelle Williams) is now engaged to Dan (Reid Scott), something that neither Eddie or (even more so) Venom are able to adjust to.
If all you come to see in comic book movies are the CGI scenes, you may find yourself a bit confused. As is the case of the first film, Venom himself actually looks plausible and solid (even in a very redundant party scene that I assume was put in for laughs). When we get to Carnage, there are times where the CGI is clearly counterfeit.
Parents, like the first film, the sequel is PG-13. There is no sexual material (minus some suggestive material). The film gets its rating for the swearing (one F bomb) and its violence, which is akin to the most violence you would have seen so far in a Marvel movie (well, one that did not include Deadpool). Middle School and above.
This time around, the story (by Hardy) is easier to follow than the first movie, the filmmaking is decent (the director is Andy Serkis), and the movie does have some laughs with the banter between Venom and Brock. Even so, I predict the film to be barely memorable (minus the performances by Hardy and Harrelson) going forward.
There is, of course, a post credit scene, which is indeed leading the character down the path fans have indeed been awaiting.
I would say what happens, but my inner symbiote is making that difficult.
Overall:
Nothing else to say 