Sony's Spider-Man adjacent universe of Marvel characters is a messy affair. Not being able to use Spider-Man has sort of forced Sony into shoe-horning often lesser characters into heroic roles when they're villains. In a way it's like if for some reason Warner Bros. lost control of Batman and started making Professor Pyg or Calendar Man tragi-heroic figures.
For some reason Venom, the only character in the franchise who has some heroic traits in the comics, has become the lynchpin of the series and despite not crossing over with Morbius or Madame Web, has spun three yarns and a cameo in Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: No Way Home. Following on from confused sub-heroic origin, and the fast-paced but unfocused Let There Be Carnage, Venom: The Last Dance offers a send off for Eddie Brock and his alien parasite Venom.
The film follows Brock and Venom after the events of the second film, wanted for murder, they flee to Mexico where the military hunt them down for experimentation at the soon to be decommissioned Area 51. General Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and scientist Dr Payne (Juno Temple) having warring ideas of the symbiotic alien but a giant creature from space comes hunting for Eddie and Venom also, sent by symbiote creator Knull.
Giving Kelly Marcel, the screenwriter of the previous films and close colleague of Tom Hardy the reign to direct makes sense. She's someone that Hardy trusts implicitly and the two have collaborated on the story for the film. One can only assume Hardy's main contribution was “put some dogs in it” and there's a lot of dogs in this film for good measure.
Unlike the boring slog of the first film, or the break-neck “get it done” attitude of the second, The Last Dance doubles down on the things people actually like – Tom Hardy pulling weird faces, doing slapstick comedy and Venom and Eddie Brock being a bickering old couple. The road trip aspect of the film works well, especially allowing some more tender moments for Hardy to act against other humans and not just the deep shouty voice in his head.
The plotting is messy, the mythology of Knull and the symbiotic planet seems shoe-horned in to set up future instalments – which given the title seems a little strange – despite the design of Knull as this emo-type dark lord looking pretty cool. Much of the film falls into CGI monsters tagging each other and bigger monsters screeching without much reason. Marcel directs the action well but without much flair, she's much more confident when it comes to the character stuff and that's where the film soars, which makes the bloated, loud climax all the more boring by comparison.
Hardy carries the film, his weird, tick-infused performance has only gotten weirder over three films, from slightly cool journalist to just a weird guy constantly sweating and shouting. If this is to be Hardy's last hurrah as Venom it would be a shame as it's fun watching the two of them bicker and fight and ultimately love one another but in this world of franchises it's unlikely this is the end. Your enjoyment of the film may depend on how much you ship SymBrock, and how much that can carry through.
Venom: The Last Dance is in cinemas from 26th October