Venom: The Last Dance (2024) Film Review

Sony Pictures

VENOM: THE LAST DANCE

Starring Tom Hardy (Eddie Brock / Venom), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Rex Strickland), Juno Temple (Teddy Paine / Agony), Rys Ifans (Martin Moon), Stephen Graham (Patrick Mulligan / Toxin), Clark Backo (Sadie “Christmas” / She-Venom / Lasher), Jack Brady (Jim / Phage), Jade Nicholson-Lamb (Jade Clark / Violet Symbiote), and Andy Serkis (Knull) with Cristo Fernandez (Bartender from the MCU 616-Universe / Bartender from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe)

Directed by Kelly Marcel

Produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, Hutch Parker, Kelly Marcel, and Tom Hardy

Written by Kelly Marcel with Tom Hardy

Music by Dan Deacon

Distributed by Sony Pictures

Run Time: 1 hour and 49 minutes

World Premier: October 21, 2024, in New York City

Opening Weekend Box Office: $51 million (North America)

Worldwide Box Office: $478 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 40%

Marvel Entertainment

Fun Venom: The Last Dance Facts

Venom: The Last Dance was the directorial debut of Kelly Marcel. She previously helped pen Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

Venom: The Last Dance commenced filming on June 23, 2023, and production was significantly delayed by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes of 2024. Filming resumed in November of 2023, with Sony Pictures confirming a delayed Fall-2024 release date.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage Director Andy Serkis portrays Knull in Venom: The Last Dance. Knull was created for Marvel Comics by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, debuting in Thor: God of Thunder # 6 (2013) and starring in the 2020-2021 King in Black Event Series written by Donny Cates. Knull is the God of the Symbiotes.

Chiwetel Ejiofor portrays General Strickland in Venom: The Last Dance. He previously portrayed Baron Mordo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Doctor Strange (2016 – Earth-616 version) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022 – Earth-838 version). Despite the MCU Multiverse being at play in 2024, General Strickland is not a Multiversal Variant of Baron Mordo.

Rhys Ifans portrays the hippie dad Martin Moon in Venom: The Last Dance. He previously portrayed Doctor Curt Connors / The Lizard in Sony Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). The Lizard (based on Ifans’ character) also appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Despite the MCU Multiverse being at play in 2024, Martin Moon is not a Multiversal Variant of Doctor Curt Connors.

In Venom: The Last Dance, actor Cristo Fernandez portrays a bartender that serves Eddie Brock. Fernandez was seen serving drinks to Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, debating what aliens are and aren’t in a rather entertaining post-credits scene. This scene was a follow-up to Eddie / Venom being transported to the MCU 616-Universe during the credits of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Venom: The Last Dance opens with a reshot version of this scene to set up a follow-up scene set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe where Fernandez reprises his role as a Multiversal Variant of the bartender seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home. In Venom: The Last Dance, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s General Strickland obtains a piece of the Venom symbiote that was left behind when Eddie Brock left the bar. In the MCU 616-Universe, a similar piece of the Venom symbiote was left behind at that Multiversal bar and has yet to be addressed within the MCU.

Venom: Let The Last Dance received the 2nd best Rotten Tomatoes Approval Rating of the Venom Trilogy, with 40%. That was ahead of Venom‘s 31% and behind Venom: Let There be Carnage‘s 58%. Though all three Venom films were deemed “Rotten” by critics on Rotten Tomatoes, all three movies managed an Audience Score of 80% or better.

Venom: The Last Dance was the least-grossing movie of Sony Pictures’ three Venom films, but the franchise grossed nearly $2 billion at the worldwide Box Office for the Studio.

Sony Pictures

My Venom: The Last Dance Review

Eddie Brock and Venom are back in their yet-to-be-numerically-designated Home Universe as Venom: The Last Dance commences, and they find themselves on the run as fugitives following the events of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Eddie and Venom are being stalked by a beastly Xenophage, who has been sent by the God of the Symbiotes Knull to retrieve a Codex, which activates when a symbiote resurrects its host, which Venom has previously done for Eddie. The Codex can free Knull from the prison that the Symbiotes subjected him to eons ago. The only way for the Codex to be destroyed is for either Eddie or Venom (or both) to die.

Eddie and Venom make new friends in a hippy family obsessed with aliens who drive them to Las Vegas, and they reunite with Ms. Chen in Vegas as well, after Eddie steals a suit from a guy that pees on him and Venom drains their cash gambling. By dancing with Ms. Chen, Venom draws the Xenophage (who can only track the Codex when Venom is in full form) as well as the military to their location and Venom and Eddie are taken into custody at Area 51.

The Xenophage follows, and this leads to a war of the Symbiotes against the Xenophage, with several Area 51 personnel bonding with Symbiotes that had been stored there. More Xenophage’s begin to arrive in short order, and this results in all out chaos and the deaths of several Symbiotes as well as Xenophage’s. Ultimately, Venom decides to sacrifice himself by bonding with the Xenophage’s and subjecting them to an acid bath. This, combined with General Strickland’s grenade detonation, destroys Area 51 and eliminates the threat to the Earth. With the death of Venom, Knull is contained.

Eddie goes on to mourn the loss of his friend, visiting the Statue of Liberty that Venom so desperately wanted to see in Venom’s honor.

In a mid-credits scene. Knull vows to spell doom for the Universe.

Venom: The Last Dance was not written or filmed to win Best Picture honors at the Academy Awards. This was intended to be a loud, bombastic, colorful comic book movie with lots of aliens and explosions and chaos.

In praising this film, I have to start with the VFX. Venom’s bond with Eddie, the Xenophage’s, and all of the colorful Venom Symbiotes looked really cool! Visually, this film was a spectacle that included a Venom horse, a Venom fish, and lots more! I don’t think any Venom comic book fan could argue against the visual presentation here. It was awesome and kudos to all involved!

Next, I’ve got to praise Tom Hardy. He was as good as ever as Eddie / Venom throughout this film and above everything else, it is his work that has made these Venom films watchable. He’s funny. spastic, nervous, bold, and eccentric, and it just works over and over again. I have nothing negative to say about anything that he did in any of these movies. He has an appreciation for the source material and a love for the character that shines through in each and every scene that he is in.

I also really liked the design of the Xenophage’s. Very well done.

That being said, there was, sadly, a lot of bad here. The supporting cast left a lot to be desired. Juno Temple was wooden and unlikable, and Chiwetel Ejiofor was wooden and unlikable, and Stephen Graham was forgettable (and yes, unlikable) unless his character was in Symbiote form. I think everyone who likes the Venom films loves Mrs. Chen, but the dance scene with her and Venom was dumb and goofy, and speaking of dumb and goofy: the hippy family.

Look, I totally get what they were trying to do in including these characters: comic relief, show Venom appreciating kindness and doing good, etc., but man, it was just SO lame. Them singing that way too long song in the van? I know it was supposed to be funny, and it was supposed to add levity, but it was awful! These characters were just repeatedly showcased so they could say something that was supposed to be funny or outlandish, but they just came off as annoying instead and it was a big miss for me.

I also must address Knull. What a waste. I feel like he was included just for the sake of marketing and drawing an audience. A Venom vs Knull movie could have been bonkers and great in all the right ways, but Knull was instead used as a tease, and even with the mid-credits scene, who really cares? Venom is dead and by all indications, so is Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

The one thing this film lacked above all else was emotion. To be fair, it tried to be emotional. There was sad music and scenes that were intended to be dramatic, but I never felt it. No once. The closest I came to feeling it was Eddie’s visit to the Statue of Liberty without Venom, but the drama just seemed really forced and inorganically stressed. That was a huge miss too.

Being the MCU fan that I am, I do wonder if Venom and Knull and Eddie Brock can live on in the MCU? It would be as simple as having the piece of the venom Symbiote that was left behind bonding with the 616-Universe version of Eddie Brock, which could be portrayed by Tom Hardy, and just like that, we have these characters in the MCU to stay where a Variant of Knull can still be a threat and a future movie could see the Venom / Spider-Man team-up we’ve all been wanting for years now. Will that actually happen? Time will tell, but I’m all for Tom Hardy returning to portray Eddie Brock, be it in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers; Doomsday, or Avengers: Secret Wars.

In the end, Venom: The Last Dance is worth a watch if you just want to pass a couple of hours with some mindless action. It’s not amazing by any means, but it’s not boring either, and again. Tom Hardy is pure gold in a dualistic role that it seems like he was born to play.

Sony Pictures

Highlights of Venom: The Last Dance:

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom

Chemistry Between Tom Hardy and Himself

Venomized Horse!

Xenophage’s

Lots of Symbiote Bonding and the War at Area 51