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Venom: Let There Be Carnage -- a review

Hey, Venom’s back, and he brought Carnage with him! The first Venom film snuck up on me, despite the fact that I was never a huge fan of the character. It was Tom Hardy’s deft performance, along with the generous dash of humor, that won me over with the first Venom film. But the inclusion of Woody Harrelson in a scene at the very end, along with the hint that he would be Carnage, was so tantalizing that I wished that had been the main storyline of the first film.

Well, Carnage--a villainous version of Venom in red--takes center stage in this sequel, as Woody Harrelson’s deadly alter-ego runs rampant over San Francisco, aided by his girlfriend (well-played by Naomi Harris, who played Moneypenny to Daniel Craig’s James Bond), who can kill people with a blast of her ear-shattering shriek, sort of like Marvel’s villainous version of DC’s Black Canary. With two fine actors as these playing baddies, it’s a shame they’re not on screen for very long to be really effective villains.

Harrelson is just not capable of giving a bad performance, and he’s very good here as Cletus Kasady, Carnage’s alter ego. In some scenes, Harrelson and Harris’ performances faintly remind me of Harrelson’s turn in Natural Born Killers, and that’s not a bad thing. But if only the second Venom movie would have let these dark proceedings run through to their natural course, it would be a better film. Instead, thanks to the film’s PG-13 rating, we have to fill in the blanks whenever a violent moment is abruptly cut to appease the ratings board.

Another problem with Venom 2 is that it’s too short. Barely clocking in at an hour and forty minutes, it would have been nice to stretch out the storyline, let it breathe somewhat, and give the characters a little more room to become real people--instead of the cardboard cutout video game drones that they wind up becoming. The always good Michelle Williams, who also returns here as Eddie’s ex-girlfriend, also isn’t given much to do but get used as bait by the bad guys at the end of the film.

And just like the first film, the second Venom ends on a mid-credit scene that’s even more tantalizing: Venom versus Spider-Man (played by Tom Holland). While the humor was welcome (it made me laugh out loud several times) Venom: Let There Be Carnage ultimately falls short in delivering an epic, satisfying battle between Venom and Carnage. Here’s hoping the eventual showdown between our favorite alien symbiote and Web Head will be much better. --SF

Venom: Let There Be Carnage can be seen on 4K and Blu-Ray here.

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