Venom: The Last Dance Blu-ray review – Dir. Kelly Marcel

Madcap escapism, with several types of brain eating, and so much fun taking it all in… The Last Dance offers the characters a conclusion and in all the right ways

I’ve held a weird regard for the bonkers world of Venom, and by that context, I mean the Tom Hardy-led film trilogy – having enjoyed the first film, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Now that I’ve finally caught up with Venom: The Last Dance, the endgame for Hardy’s Eddie Brock and that cheeky, violent, symbiote that resides inside of him, I can conclude that once again I enjoyed the surreal distraction of a movie setup that probably shouldn’t work but, for me, offers a journey that may follow a standard central path, but certainly isn’t afraid to take persistent amusing and unusual gambles.

Let it be said, I’m not here to get too deep with Venom: The Last Dance, out now on Digital and Blu-ray/4K UHD, we do that with so many movies out there – and lord knows an almost endless plethora of crime drama – yet I always have fun with this creation. Sure, there’s exposition thrown around, and little inspirations from Independence Day, Arrival and War of the Worlds that aren’t subtle, but I’m happy to be dragged along on a symbiote horse/frog/fish/squirrel on the adventure – and stay through the credits for (sometimes very creepy) animal variations.

But onto the film: in Venom: The Last Dance, major Venom/Carnage villain Knull (Andy Serkis, no less), is after every symbiote who’s imprisoned him in this other plain of reality. He’s also after a ‘cortex’ which is within Eddie and Venom because they’ve been merged together through survival last time out but, this cortex can only be seen when they’re ‘one’ as Venom. When this happens, Knull’s savage, teeth-laden Xenophages can instantaneously seek out Venom anywhere and they hyperfocus into death machines to try and kill ‘them.’ At the same time as this, the dynamic duo are being hunted by a secret government taskforce and on the run, because this other organisation wants to investigate and imprison them as well, because they’ve already got a collection, and need the big one. That team is led by Juno Temple’s Doctor Teddy Payne, and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s military Rex Strickland, who both have alternative plans for hunting them down, of course.

So there are a few plot devices running, and there’s also a road trip, a David Bowie singalong with Rhys Ifan’s (not connected to his Spider-Man Curt Connors role) travelling van family, some genuinely poignant Eddie self-reflection moments, but also a trip to Las Vegas, a mad dance sequence with an older favourite character with Venom, more mad physical comedy from Tom Hardy, and him looking like James Bond for a moment. Think a Warrior Daniel Craig and in a version I’d love to see. In truth, we really need to discuss Hardy’s commitment to sparkle motion.

While I appreciate we’re not supposed to be ‘separating’ him from Venom, not at the start anyway, when you take a second to comprehend his performances throughout this series, they’ve been exceptional and in a madcap way. Always sweating, always hollering, or battling with himself, it’s an absolute goldmine of beautiful insanity that even manages to find some tenderness in The Last Dance. While I can’t say I was literally emotionally moved, I have no doubt of the commitment of the filmmaking team, because it’s all out there and – frankly – I think one of the most self-aware franchises in terms of knowing what it is, and punching it out with a mix of fun and serious so it doesn’t get too tired over the speedy runtime.

It’s strange, silly escapism, there’s several types of brain eating, and I had so much fun taking it all in, and do you know what, that’s absolutely fine by me.