Venom: The Last Dance, what if it was good? [critique]

The much-maligned saga of Tom Hardy concludes with a third part that we almost want to defend.

There is something of a misunderstanding around Venom at the cinema. Massacred by critics, the first two parts nevertheless amassed more than 1.3 billion dollars in revenue worldwide. But do the public really like it? Venom is savored like a pure popcorn movie, a guilty pleasure that we don't dare too much in public. It even seems that there are fans within the editorial staff of First…

If we talk about cinema, films Venom are obviously destitute. If we're talking about comic book adaptations, it's not better. The saga carried by Tom Hardy has no use for the comic adventures of the Marvel character, famous nemesis of Spider-Man on paper but prohibited from meeting the Weaver on the big screen for legal reasons. And who therefore found himself at the head of the gondola of the universe cobbled together by Sony, holder of the rights to Spidey under the control of the all-powerful Marvel Studio.

After 20 years of various developments, under the leadership of powerful producer Avi Arad, Venom has become a release for Tom Hardy, a great actor as long as he is kept under control but ready to histrionic like no other if we ever let go. The kind of guy who can devour a live lobster in the middle of a restaurant, like in the scene from the first film, released in 2018, which is still remembered.

Venom is not a superhero film but a delirium allowing Hardy to have fun in an exercise in total overacting, acting as himself with a voice that would have been inspired by… his dog. Venom is a bromance, a buddy movie, a schizo, almost onanic comedy, where anything goes. The sequel, Let There Be Carnagewhere we saw Venom coming out in a queer nightclub, confirmed this. It's excruciating, but also brilliant in a way.

From there, what could we expect from the new Venom, supposed to conclude the saga? Not much and a lot at the same time. The starting point is a plot that is as useless as it is uninspired. Imprisoned on a planet, Knull, the creator of the symbiotes, sends destructive and indestructible creatures (Xenophages) to Earth to find Venom and Eddie Brock. Their fusion created a Codex that will allow him to free himself and accomplish his dream: destroy the universe.

Director Kelly Marcel, who co-wrote the first two films, uses this pretext to orchestrate the duo's last dance. A macabre dance, since one of the two will have to die to prevent Knull from achieving his ends. But before that, time for fun. Make way for the Tom Hardy show which, we can say among ourselves, is sometimes really funny.

Jumbled together, Venom makes a cocktail to the sound of “Tequila”, merges with animals (a horse, a fish and even a toad), sings David Bowie's “Space Oddity” with a hippie family and dances to Abba with Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu), after discovering the exhilarating effect of slot machines in a Las Vegas casino. He also wanted to see a musical on Broadway, but no time, there's a story to wrap up.

We could go into more detail on the return of Stephen Graham, the scientific research on symbiotes carried out by Juno Temple under Area 51, or the generic Marvel super-military played by Chiwetel Elejiofor who supervises it on behalf of the Imperium (a sub-SHIELD Sony version). But that wouldn't be very interesting. Especially since this teaser could well lead to nothing at all (we will talk about this again in our analysis of the post-credits scenes).

Better to linger on the rather moving conclusion of The Last Dance. At the heart of the final battle imposed with the beasts sent by Knull, Hardy and Marcel managed to place a truly moving moment for the farewells of Venom and Eddie (it's not the end of Terminator 2let's be serious). A duo that we will have learned to understand and appreciate over the course of this shaky but sincere trilogy, which has never tried to take itself for what it is not. Wait, we're saying good things Venom 3 ? Don't tell anyone that…