It is always worth trekking to the movie hall to see Tom Hardy, but braving waterlogged streets in Kolkata to see what is supposed to be the final send off for him and his symbiote Venom wasn’t entirely worth it. Venom: The Last Dance, the third and final instalment of the Venom series, is at best a mediocre send off for a character who has been a fan favourite, even if not a critical darling.
Starting where the second film left off, The Last Dance finds Eddie Brock (Hardy) in a Mexican bar learning about a purple alien who likes stones. He is soon pulled back to his own universe with a joke about having had enough of the “multiversal sh*t’ that seems to be referring to the failure of Marvel to launch anything of import, Deadpool & Wolverine aside, since it went multiversal.
Eddie and Venom are on the run from authorities — for killing a police officer who is not actually dead — drinking cocktails and helping Mexican fighting dogs by eating the heads of the gang members, but it is not the only thing pursuing the duo. Also on their tail is an interdimensional being that wants a codex, a key, to unlock the prison of Knull, the creator of the symbiotes. The key that exists because of the bond between Eddie and Venom.
They start heading to New York to blackmail a judge into clearing Eddie’s name but run into a hippie alien nutter (played by Rhys Ifans) and his family, Mrs Chen (that dance sequence with Venom and Mrs Chen is perhaps the best moment of the movie), the army led by Chiwetel Ejiofor as General Strickland and scientists at Area 51 led by Dr Teddy Payne (Juno Temple), all by the time they are in Las Vegas. Suffice to say, Eddie and Venom reach a point where one has to die to save the world, ending their partnership.
The road trip is like the film itself — not too boring and not too thrilling. It is always fun to see Eddie and Venom bickering but it's never funny enough to get a laugh. The sense of danger is present but is never threatening enough. Then there are many threads that never go anywhere. There is much attention paid to a Christmas brooch but it goes nowhere. We are given a backstory about Dr Payne and her dead twin, but it never contributed to anything. Eddie kills a person as himself, not Venom, but the film never pauses on it. The Rhys Ifans segment is overlong even for the emotional moment later. It does give us Tom Hardy in a suit though, so I am adding that to the plus column.
Hardy as usual gives the role his all with intensity, and adds a zing to the chemistry between Eddie and Venom (also growled out by Hardy). The final moments of the film, when Eddie realises he has to die but Venom sacrifices himself to save Eddie are emotional and yet falls short given the bond Eddie will be missing.
Overall the film is watchable and nowhere close to as bad as Madam Web, it just feels inadequate as a send off for the Eddie-Venom partnership.
