Venom: Let there be Carnage (3 Stars)

The Venom films aren't part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Or are they? The final scene of the second film, shown in the middle of the credits, suggests otherwise.

When I saw it in the cinema last year I expressed great disappointment and said I wouldn't buy it on Blu-ray. That was an emotional reaction. I bought it last week as the third film in the Prime Day offer, buy two Marvel films and get one free. I would have bought it eventually anyway. I'm too much of a Marvel fan to skip it. I might even buy "The Eternals", if the price is low enough, but the price will have to be very low to tempt me.

I'll shorten the film's name to "Venom 2". It's a film that I really wanted to like. I was biased in its favour before I saw it in the cinema, and I'm still biased now. I watched it today looking for positive things to say about it. There are a few. Tom Hardy's acting is superb. The fight scenes are good, though not up to the fight scenes in "Spider-Man 3", made way back in 2007. That's about it. The list of negatives is much longer:

• The cinematography is dark and grubby.
• The presence of an ex-girlfriend (Michelle Williams) is annoying.
• The romance between Cletus Kasady and Frances Barrison isn't developed.
• The humour is excessive.

At least, I hope the interaction between Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote is intended to be funny. If not, it's just stupid. The symbiote repeatedly half-emerges from Eddie's body like a ridiculous sock puppet, arguing about what he wants to do. This never happened in the comics. The symbiote was in control and determined what was going to happen. If he wanted to eat a bad guy (or a good guy) he didn't talk about it, he just did it.

Venom should be shown as a cold-blooded killer. The film shouldn't be certificate 12, it should be rated R for violence. Film fans like to criticise "Spider-Man 3", but Sam Raimi got it right. He showed Venom and Eddie Brock feeding off one another's hatred. He also showed the symbiote as a Spider-Man imitator, an aspect missing in the new Venom films.

I shan't write any more about the film. It makes me sad just thinking about it.

Success Rate:  + 2.6

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