The mid-credits sting at the end of Venom 2’s 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2018 predecessor saw journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) visit serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) in San Quenti✱n prison. “When I escape, there will be carnage,” in💮toned the caged psycho, whose fright wig was carnage enough, thank you very much.
And so here we are in 2021 – a year later than planned, courtesy of Covid – with Kasady on the loose and hosting the alien adversary c൩reate🗹d by writer David Michelinie and artist Mark Bagley in the ’90s Marvel comics.
Plot-wise, you don’t need to know much more, even if more plot did exist – which it doesn’t. Brock/Venom are of course still pining for former love Anne (Michelle Williams), and Kasady likewise suffers from romantic heartache🧜, having been separated years ago from Frances Barrison aka Shriek (Naomie Harris). She’s now residing in a Perspex cube at Ravencroft Institute for the criminally insane, her sonic screams a menace to public and symbiotes alike.
🌌With Venom director Ruben Fleischer making way for Andy Serkis, wh🐻o knows a thing or two about duality, Venom: Let There Be Carnage clocks in at under 90 minutes, sans credits. The majority of the taut running time is curiously lacking in any major set-pieces, but when one does arrive, at the climax, it’s long and leaden and visually dismal – all crumbling masonry and clashing CG beasties, with tentacles bursting every which way like tendrils of colour erupting from a dropped paint pot. Such is the murk and mess it’s hard to credit this is lensed by three-time Academy Award winner Robert Richardson, a regular of Scorsese and Tarantino.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is better when it focuses on being a relationship drama, with every interaction commented on by its title star. Brock and his parasite make for a fun odd couple, their bickering amplified by Venom’s constant hunger as he tries to subsist not on human brains but chickens and chocolate. There are parallels with the second A Nightmare On Elm Street movie, Freddy’s Revenge (1985), in which Krueger possesses a teenage boy. And like Freddy, Venom is a monstrous s♈layer armed with killer quips who is destined to become a family favourite – a scene in a club, with Venom lit by glow sticks as he takes to the mic, is his spotlight moment.
Like the critically underrated first film, Serkis’ effort is a pulpy B-movie with a budget. It’s almost Raimi-esque in its treatment of body horror, and has🧸 its large, pointy tongue stuffed firmly in its cheek. But it’s just not as sharp, and🍌 the action is more smudge than punch. Let’s hope the prospective third instalment gives Brock/Venom the vehicle they deserve. A hugely exciting mid-credits sting ensures even viewers who don’t get on with this movie will be queuing for the next.
