I never thought there would be a time where I turn people away from my work but if you have not watched Marvel’s Venom: Let there be carnage then I suggest you do just that. Not that there is much to spoil. The film is one long fight scene with a 2-minute post credit scene making up for an entire 1 hour and 37 minutes. I said, what I said. Before I dive in, there are two things to state here: 1. I am not a critic 2. I am not a Marvel fanatic (so if I have missed a needle-sized clue/teaser, spare me… Please).
Empty Barrel
Having recently re-watched Venom, my expectations were high. The first film toes the line between comedy, story and action perfectly throughout, but what Marvel intro film doesn’t? As someone who only watches 7 seconds of a trailer, what I perceived to be a decent hero-villain film with Venom: Let there be Carnage, turned out to be an odd fight with a random serial killer and his even more random screaming girlfriend. It was not giving much of anything and I wouldn’t put this down to the actors on screen but to the director Andy Serkis. Serkis does a great job at mixing reality with fantasy as he did with his 2018 film Mowgli. Perhaps Serkis is a creature of habit, as he repeats his good, he also repeats his bad: In 2018 Peter Debruge described Serkis’s Mowgli as ‘not without spectacle, but … strangely without soul’. 3 years later, Venom: Let there be carnage also fits this description – Habit or unlucky coincidence?
You do not need to have watched 1000 films to know that this film is lacking. There is 0, zilch, nil character development throughout, Serkis gives the audience only comedy and action. This makes the introduction of Harrelson who plays Cletus Kasady, even more confusing. His story is portrayed as a montage on 5x before he becomes Carnage. Of course, it can be argued that there is a clear reason for this – Harrelson’s character is static, he begins and ends as simple serial killer in love with his childhood crush Frances Barrison a.k.a Shriek. However, all the loose ends surrounding Cletus Kasady leave us with many questions that will possibly never be answered because his head is bitten of by Venom.
Loose ends
Marvel has a tendency to leave loose ends in many of their films and often it excites us and gets everyone pumped for what’s to come next. Venom: Let there be Carnage is not one of those films. There are loose ends but there is (excluding the post-credit scene) very little excitement for what happens next for Tom Hardy’s Venom or any of the other characters. I truly love Marvel movies but I did feel as though I was watching a one-man remake of DC’s 2016 Suicide Squad. The film felt rushed and forgettable which, is an injustice to the quality CGI and acting in the film. If you’re going to watch the movie hoping for something more than what says on the tin, then I am sorry to disappoint. Venom: Let there be Carnage, is the epitome of carnage – many irrelevant people are killed and that’s pretty much it.
Not a critic, just my thoughts.
