First Take: Venom: The Last Dance - Sony once again fumble another superhero film

SYNOPSIS: Eddie and Venom, on the run, face pursuit from both worlds. As circumstances tighten, they’re compelled to make a heart-wrenching choice that could mark the end of their symbiotic partnership.

Three films, three directors, and a universe that’s allegedly unconnected to the MCU’s multiversal adventures, even if characters were featured in the post-credits of No Way Home. Sony has a bit of an identity problem when it comes to their Spider-Man universe away from animation and the Tom Holland efforts, and, as feared, the final part of this Venom trilogy is more of the same.

Stepping up from sole writing duties to direct this one is Kelly Marcel, taking the main seat for the first time in her career, and, well, it’s 1 hour 49 minutes of superhero filmmaking that isn’t designed to be taken seriously. There are highs and lows as expected, with the tone very much being set with a joke about being done with the multiverse (Ryan Reynolds called, he did it better), but she lands the final act really well when all things are considered. It’s shot well by Fabian Wagner, and once again, another new composer takes the helm with Dan Deacon succeeding Marco Beltrami and Ludwig Goransson on scoring duties. It genuinely feels like production on this film was hit hard by last year’s strikes, and as such, everything feels very hastily put together to hit the October 2024 release slot.

Understandably Tom Hardy’s input on this film is felt, he definitely had a lot of fun with the Venom character over the years, and with this being his last (potentially), he just decided to go all out. Co-writing the film, shaping the jokes which are at times very much dad jokes, and generally saying ‘screw it’, if this is how he wants to exit a franchise then fair play. Supporting him is Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Stephen Graham, Rhys Ifans, Alanna Ubach and Clark Backo, and putting it all together, as a solo film this is a silly and at times ridiculous plot. But as part of the Venom trilogy, well, it’s opened strong, outperformed Joker: Folie a Deux (like most films are right now) and got off to a good start - the second week box office drop will be the telling sign for Sony’s next steps with Kraven The Hunter set to open at the end of the year.

THE VERDICT

From middle of the road superhero film to… middle of the road superhero film. This hasn’t been a pretty trilogy for Sony, but with their continued grasp on Spider-Man rights (every villain they use in their films allegedly keeps Marvel Studios from using them in the MCU) these 'universe-adjacent’ movies belong in the void. The best thing about this film was the cinema I reviewed it in - and that says it all.

RATING: 2.5/5