Venom: The Last Dance is the third, and supposedly final, installment in the Venom franchise starring Tom Hardy that started in 2018. This entry follows Eddie Brock and Venom once again as they are on the run as fugitives, dodging a mysterious military man and alien monsters from Venom’s home world. I have always been relatively easy on the first entry and found it to be better than what the critical reception would say. I didn’t care much for the sequel that I found to be a rushed mess. Needless to say, I wasn’t really looking forward to the new one, but I remained positive like I usually do. In a nutshell, the film had a lot of great potential that was ultimately wasted.

Over the past decade or so, Tom Hardy has proved to be one of the greatest actors working today. He first stood out in Inception, even though he found himself in greater success in a few indies beforehand. If it wasn’t for Inception, I don’t think we would universally know the guy that he is today. He’s gone on to be in many great films, and when the first Venom was announced, I especially remained positive due to Marvel’s track record at the time, plus hoping we would get something R-rated. Unfortunately, we got nothing like what I was expecting. What’s even worse is that if it wasn’t for Hardy’s track record of the past decade, I think this film could have been the nail in the coffin for his career.

When it comes to film, I always try to remain positive no matter how much I like it. After all, these are also people who work on these films, and I do not think they have the worst intentions of delivering something bad. It appears that Hardy has fully embraced the campiness of these films that the studio questionably enjoys. His performance is so lackluster and borderlines Razzie territory often. You can see where he is not even sure how to embrace this character. He just looks uncomfortable all the time.

When the film decides to fully embrace the themes it is trying to convey, that’s actually where Hardy shines, but it is so limited in screentime. As a final installment, the film tackles what both Eddie & Venom lost during their time together. There’s a part in the film where they say that they have only been together for a year, which does make it confusing considering how it tries to connect to the MCU. While I have a hard time buying that these two really feel like they lost something during the time, the film still manages to hit the feels during those moments. Whether it’s Eddie missing out on being a dad or Venom getting to enjoy himself, the film hits the right emotional beats under Kelly Marcel’s direction, even though it’s quite clear that this film is only trying to fit the studio mold.

In her directorial debut, Kelly Marcel stood out, because of her work as a writer on the trilogy. Even more, I found it interesting that she was going to direct as it seemed like no one else wanted to touch it. Once again, I remained positive as she might be the perfect fit to bring it all home due to her involvement in the beginning. Instead, we get another studio movie that does not care about the end product. I will give credit to Marcel for hitting the right emotional beats that reminded me of my own cat, as well as where I was in life when I saw each entry in the trilogy. The film just gets bogged down by trying to service what the studio wants and trying to fits into their own agenda that will not work at the end of the day.

There’s always been a loss in direction since the beginning of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU). While the trilogy has tried to remain intact, especially with the MCU, the other films, Morbius & Madame Web, never connected properly. With what the film chooses to do to expand on the franchise after this one concludes baffles me. We have the villain, Knull voiced by Andy Serkis, who only serves the purpose of exposition with about two minutes of overall runtime. I truly can’t imagine how the franchise is going to continue considering how this one is. It ends up becoming lazy, dull, and lifeless.

Speaking of exposition, the film has so much of it. Venom has to continuously explain things to Eddie really quick that often make no sense. At least there was a reason to the madness in the MCU. It just doesn’t make sense here. The film will often cut to other side characters, explore their backstory, and make nothing of it. Chiwetel Ejiofor, in a different role other than his MCU role, adds nothing of value to the story. He is a tremendous actor. Considering he has already been in the MCU, it is beyond me why he decided to be here.

Then, there’s another actor who has already been in another Marvel movie, Rhys Ifans, who starred as Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man & Spider-Man: No Way Home. Once again, he plays a completely different role in a plotline that is perhaps the most baffling a film that is already baffling. Ifans stars as the father of a family who run into Eddie as they head their way to Area 51. Apparently, Area 51 is being decommissioned. Even though it’s a secret, people still know about it, which leads this conspiracy family to check it out before it goes away. It’s clear this is only added to add some humor, but you can also see where this is when Eddie & Venom ponder what life could have been like in a past life. We get a scene where the family, including Venom sing to David Bowie. The family talks nonsensically. It is quite similar to an early 2000’s video game adaptation. Somewhat related is how Mrs. Chen is brought back only for Venom to have a dance scene. Most will see this as pointless as the rest of the film, but I think that’s Marcel trying to once again show what the two characters lost.

Worst of all is how Juno Temple’s character is handled. We immediately get her backstory as soon as we see her. It’s clunky from a visual and storytelling perspective and goes on for far too long. You could have cut it out and allowed the pacing to be tighter, getting us back to Eddie & Venom, which is what we care for most. Her backstory somewhat ties into the end, but it doesn’t justify it at all. I can see where Marcel, as a writer, is wanted to give all these characters more life. I just think the studio machine prevailed, beating out what could have been an entry that was more hard-hitting and satisfying.

By the time the film reaches its climax, the film proves why this wasn’t necessary. The film starts off with the duo on the run, forcing them to go to New York City to clear their name. They quickly explain that they are doing it to frame someone else, but that doesn’t even matter in the end. For a film that could have truly embraced being a buddy-travel movie, the movie instead sets most of it in Nevada. When we get the big action scene at Area 51, my buddy who went to go see it with me, and I both realized that this was the end. The end feels more like a mid-point for the film, especially when you take into account everything that came before it. It’s nice to get an emotional moment out of it that made me feel sad, but it doesn’t fully wrap itself up in a bow that feels conclusive. Once everything is said and done, Eddie is able to move on, but as what cost? I guess at the cost at our ticket to go see it.

Aside from my frustrations with the story, and as you can see, I had plenty, the film is mostly nonsensical. We get random action set pieces that do nothing to advance the story. People are able to conveniently speak English when they probably wouldn’t be able to be. The sound design overlaps with the soundtrack, making the music sound meddled. We get a few other characters that are thrown away like it’s nothing. Creatures are able to terrorize and make noise without anyone else hearing or seeing them. There are goofy action set pieces that served no purpose. I think the common throughline throughout all of this is that the film served no purpose and is only just a bunch of sound.

Overall, Venom: The Last Dance had so much more potential that made me want to like this more. Instead, the film is only trying to play it safe by fitting the studio mold. Everything is beyond ridiculous. If you are a fan of the first two, I am sure you will like it. Considering it is supposed to be the final chapter of Venom, it’s disappointing to see how much is explored outside of the titular character, and it’s even more disappoint to see it try expand into more movies that will more than likely never happen.

VERDICT: 1.5/5 (Really Bad)