Venom is one of my all time favorite comic book characters and has been since the 90s. He just looked so freaking cool and it was the Spider-Man Animated Series in the 90s that really cemented him as one of my favorites. Venom is a character that since the superhero movie boom started, I wanted to see on the big screen. First going toe to toe with Spidey and then having to team up with him to stop Carnage and ultimately becoming The Lethal Protector.
How to Download Venom: The Last Dance
Venom: The Last Dance was released on October 25, 2024. You can expect it to become available for download or streaming on Netflix or other digital platforms in about 45 days from that date. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and check the current availability.
The Movie Review
We sure as hell did not get that route, did we? Say what you want about Venom’s portrayal in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but the transformation scene of Eddie Brock becoming Venom is damn near perfect and one of my favorite scenes in a comic book movie. Topher Grace was far too small to be Eddie Brock and Venom was too small as well, but I always felt that Topher Grace apart from his small stature felt more like Eddie Brock than what we have gotten in these Tom Hardy Movies.
Look, I hated and I mean hated that first Venom movie! However, I was clearly in the minority as it made a ton of money! The sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage was a ton of fun and I had gotten over the fact that this Venom/Eddie Brock was not the one I wanted and I just enjoyed it for what it was. With me liking that movie, I was excited for the third and supposedly final entry in the series, Venom: The Last Dance.
Introducing Knull as a New Villain
The trailers from the movie looked great. The first one I saw had my mind blown by the fact that Knull was going to be in this movie! However, Knull is actually in the movie for all of about five minutes and he is more of a big threat looming over everything than the big bad of the movie!
After the events of Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man No Way Home. Eddie/Venom have been pulled back into their own universe and they are on the run after what happened in the last movie. Venom really wants to see the Statue of Liberty and there is someone there that Eddie knows, who they can potentially blackmail to get their name cleared and the authorities off their back.
Two Forces Hunting Venom and Eddie
Well, there are two groups hunting down Eddie and Venom! First of all, is a shadow military style group that has been experimenting on the other symbiotes. I had such high hopes for this that it would lead to us seeing some of the other symbiotes and we do kind of get that, but they are just their own thing and we never get to really know anything about them. I feel that this was a massive and I mean massive missed opportunity.
As well as people on Earth hunting them down. It turns out that Venom is the key to freeing Knull from his prison so Knull sends a bunch of Xenophage alien monsters to track him down and get what he needs to be free. This leads to the people on Earth having to trust Eddie and Venom to save the day.
Highlights and Misses in Venom: The Last Dance
There was certainly some stuff that I liked in the movie. The scene with the family of alien enthusiasts picking up Venom/Eddie and then singing some David Bowie together was a major highlight of the movie. The general banter with Eddie and Venom was also something that I really enjoyed. However, there were other parts that really missed the mark for me such as the scene with Venom dancing with Mrs. Chen which I did not find funny, just super dumb.
Is Venom: The Last Dance Worth Watching?
At the end of the day, Venom: The Last Dance was an ok movie, but I certainly preferred Let There Be Carnage. Venom still looks awesome and the special effects are actually fantastic. There is a lot of ropey CGI these days, but I never felt that was the case here at all. If this is the end of the road for Tom Hardy’s Venom, I really do hope that Sony can now give us the Spider-Man and Venom movie that I have dreamed of since I was a kid. Again, I did not hate this movie, but I did not love it either. Perhaps it will be one of those movies that I enjoy more the second time around.
