Monday 1 November 2021

Venom: Let there be Carnage (3 Stars)


I don't remember when I was so disappointed with a Marvel film. I enjoyed the first Venom film with Tom Hardly greatly, even though it was far removed from any connection with the comics. I expected the sequel to be similar, but it wasn't. The film is less violent. Marvel Studios have tamed down the character. The original film was a 16 certificate in America, whereas the sequel has a 12 certificate. The main problem is the humour. There's too much of it, especially in the first half of the film. Venom was never intended to be a comedy figure, a funny alien from another planet.

"Venom 2", as I prefer to call it, improves when it moves into the main fight scenes in the second half, but there are still repeated silly jokes. As soon as I got home today I read what other reviewers think. Interesting. Most say that it's better than the first film. I don't understand them. Did they watch the same film as me?

I'm in no hurry to buy "Venom 2" on Blu-ray. If it's shown on a streaming service I'll watch it again and write more about it. Until then, it's a film I'd rather forget. Marvel's next film, "The Eternals", is in the cinema next week. I hope it won't be as bad.

Unusually for Marvel, there's no post-credits scene, but there's a very important mid-credits scene. Don't miss it.

2 comments:

  1. It should be noted that, while these are Marvel characters, they're not Marvel films. They're Sony movies over which Marvel has no control. For the Spider-Man films, Spidey is on loan from Sony in a rather unusual cross-studio deal.

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    1. I think you're splitting hairs on what is and isn't a Marvel film. Whether or not Marvel has control of the films, the writers and directors should feel morally obligated to stick to the source material. But they don't, whether they're Marvel films or not. Look at the recent Shang-Chi film, an MCU film. It's a good film, but the character has almost no resemblance to the Marvel character. Simu LIu is just a random Chinese man who happens to have the same name as someone in the comics
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