*No twists spoiled but c’mon its Venom…

IMDB Synopsis

Eddie Brock is still struggling to coexist with the shape-shifting extraterrestrial Venom. When deranged serial killer Cletus Kasady also becomes host to an alien symbiote, Brock and Venom must put aside their differences to stop his reign of terror.

“I have tasted blood before. And that is not it!”

In the Post Credit scene of VENOM (2018) we hear Cletus Kasady say there will be Carnage when he escapes from prison. Well Juicers, I am here to tell you he was not lying. We had Carnage in this new Venom movie, and we also have a lot more to discuss, so lets get into it.

Unlike the first movie Directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), Andy Serkis (Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle) takes the helm here to expand the Sony Spiderverse. And instead of trying to develop any sort of story they really just turn this movie into a 90 minute cartoon somewhat akin to Godzilla vs. Kong. The plot is meaningless all you really need to know is that Carnage and Venom are going to face off, and Eddie and Venom are going to argue with each other constantly. I think they want that relationship to come off with a Riggs/Murtaugh Buddy Cop relationship, but it really just comes off like an annoying married couple (yes I am in one of those). We also get this weird Joker/Harley Quinn type relationship with Cletus (Woody Harrelson) and Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris), but their chemistry is just so bizarre and again cartoonish. A lot of these relationships play into the tone of the movie, but the tone was so odd that it trickles down to the rest of the story.

What works about this movie, is honestly what I expected it to with Serkis, is the effects. The movie and characters look absolutely incredible, they are completely unique to these films. Sure Venom just keeps fighting other symbiotes, but Carnage had you genuinely scared because of how big and scary he was. A lot of that credit should also go to legendary cinematographer Robert Richardson who shot this movie probably because he is friends with Serkis. So the technical side of everything is pretty cool even if the “story” does not totally work.

Stock Watch

Stock Neutral – Tom Hardy

It is awesome to see how much he truly loves this character and this franchise in all his interviews. He is one of the biggest stars today, and already owns one iconic comic book character, so to see him embrace this is great. Hardy is at the point he can do anything he wants, and usually gets praised for it. I am in for whatever ride he takes us on.

Stock Neutral – Woody Harrelson

He is Woody Harrelson!

Stock Down – Andy Serkis

I hate to do this because he is a true legend of cinema, but his last two Directed movies have not been great. I do think he has potential and his movies look good, so hopefully he turns it around moving forward.

*A couple other tidbits

• How do they keep dragging Michelle Williams into these movies.
• Naomie Harris was giving off major Tia Dalma vibes from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (my favorite role of hers).
• The club scene was great and felt straight out of a comic book page.
• That post credit scene is very interesting, but also is the only thing people are talking about with this movie.

I actually liked the first movie more than most people, because I thought the journalism and detective story gave it a backbone. Turning it into a straight cartoon is fun, but just feels very underwhelming once you reach the conclusion. I actually think the character will work better when they start mixing him in with other characters, rather than leading his own movie.

Juice Rating:

*You can find my 2021 Movie Rankings here.

*You can find all of my Movie Ratings here.

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