Venom: Let There Be Carnage Review – Does The Sequel Hit The Mark?

“This acts very much like the first Venom; a hangover film just there to entertain…”

With the first Venom move being somewhat easy to overlook, was there much to expect from it’s sequel? Its story – simplistic. Its characters – a mixed bag. Improvements from the previous instalment – not an awful lot.

Let There Be Carnage drops us back into the life of Eddie Brock (Tom Hard) as he continues to struggle functioning with symbiote, Venom (also Tom Hardy). This is all whilst he is brought back into the firing line of Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), a psychotic serial killer. With Brock causing Kasady to be sentenced to death, and the latter getting a symbiote of his own, trouble ensues.

The rest of the cast is filled out by returning characters Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), Detective Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham) and Frances Barrison/Shriek (Naomie Harris). Oh, don’t forget those much younger versions of Kasady and Barrison from the beginning who were voiced by Harrelson and Harris respectively. Yeah, that didn’t fit well.

One big plus from the first film carries over into the sequel; Tom Hardy’s performance as both lead characters. With more of an Odd Couple-esque relationship at this point, Hardy plays both well and their bickering actually has you enjoying their scenes together.

The return of Williams’ Anne doesn’t feel completely necessary on the other hand. Yes, it brings in the emotional range for Brock like last time. Yep, she does have her damsel in distress moments (yawn). But other than that you can’t help feeling that the cogs could still turn without her.

Graham’s Mulligan is also a small but big role, except he adds something fresh to the story – someone who just wants answers and results. There’s no straight evil or good, just a clear motive, and it is done cleverly.

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Unfortunately, Naomie Harris is massively underused. When she is on screen, she does have moments to shine, but with little dialogue and all the focus on Kasady/Carnage as the duel villains, it’s great talent pushed to the bottom of the pile.

The main issues with characters in this story is their perception. We’re watching the supposedly terrifying Venom make breakfast to cheer Brock up at one point. Are we supposed to still find this symbiote scary at this stage? Kasady is also supposed to be a criminal so sadistic that the death penalty is brought back to end him…but then most of his story revolves around his romance with Barrison? A nice angle on the usual serial killer tropes, but it feels all over the place. However, when we do meet the film’s villain, Carnage (also played by Harrelson), the horror factor does rise up and you feel the intensity we got when we first met Venom a few years back.

As mentioned above, the film’s overall story isn’t hard to follow. Is that bad? of course not, but sometimes it just becomes a snooze fest. This isn’t helped by the film’s short runtime. We almost get the feel of a feature-length TV episode with how the pacing is covered. With more screentime on the whole and opportunities to broaden the story, some things could have been fixed quite easily.

Then there’s the forced moment from Kasady to Brock of the whole “we’re not so different, you and I”. With the fact we know very little about the latter’s backstory and there is nothing to suggest an ex-top reporter shares similarities with an abused murderer…what do we have to go on?

It is easy to tell that this is a film directed by Andy Serkis – mo-cap extraordinaire. The motion capture used in this outing is a step up from the previous film and you can feel some more fun characteristic off Venom. I won’t spoil the main example of this but for those who have seen, I’ll give one clue – glow sticks.

As mentioned earlier, Carnage is also made to truly feel scary. His entrance, his presence and his overall comic-accurate appearance is top notch. The most scared I’ve probably ever felt in a comic book movie.

With this sequel, we do find Sony leaning even more heavily into the idea of compatibility and the difference between want and need. The relationships we see throughout – Venom and Brock, Brock and Anne, Kasady and Carnage, Kasady and Barrison – they all feature complex variations of who fits with who naturally and who needs the other for their own gain. Though the story isn’t filled with loads of layers, this one does serve quite well.

Overall, Let There Be Carnage does improve on it’s predecessor, but it doesn’t make you want to return for a second viewing any time soon. With a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it runtime, a too-smooth story and poor use of character on the most part, this acts very much like the first Venom; a hangover film just there to entertain when you need something to watch.

Suitably, we’re giving this sequel a 5.1/10.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is currently showing in cinemas.