Alright, readers, now’s your chance to sound off! Venom: The Last Dance is now out in theaters. The title and trailers have been emphasizing the closing of the trilogy by reflecting on the friendship between Eddie Brock and the symbiote. Has this last entry left you feeling nostalgic for the series that started with Ruben Fleischer’s 2018 original? Aside from the obvious Spider-Man-void in the universe, did the franchise give you what you hoped to see from a Venom solo spin-off? Was this a satisfying end to the journey?
Our own Chris Bumbray would find the movie to be so-so, but ended up being entertained in the latter part of the film, then he concluded his review by saying, “In the end, like all the other Venom movies, this is a mixed bag. Director Kelly Marcel makes her directorial debut after working as a writer and producer on other movies. She certainly is as capable behind the camera as any other director who worked on the franchise. She’s delivered a fun movie, with the last half hour offering us the best take on the character we’ve seen so far, but I daresay it’s maybe too little to redeem the franchise in a significant way. None of the films have been offensively bad, but with Hardy in the lead role and some cast members brought in throughout the franchise, the Venom series should have been bigger and better. It was fine as a whole, but is fine really good enough anymore?”
The Tom Hardy-led movie currently sports a 36% rating at Rotten Tomatoes with a 77% Popcornmeter (which is the new name for the audience score). That critic aggregate falls well below the prior installment’s 57%, but it does come out ahead of the first film’s rating of 30%.
While trailers for this movie tease the appearance of Knull, who is notoriously powerful from the comic source material, director Kelly Marcel stresses that his time in the movies may not be limited to just this film. “We know full well how important Knull is to the fans, so just as we laid a foundation for Venom, we hope we are doing the same for Knull. The King in Black is way too powerful for ‘one and done,’” Marcel said. “This film introduces Knull, but it just touches the beginnings of his story. Marvel’s greatest film villains are developed over time. Here, Knull is the threat lurking behind the danger that tests the absolute limits of Eddie and Venom’s partnership — but it’s their relationship that remains the heart of this story… This is just the beginning for Knull.“