VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (REVIEW)

Dir. Andy Serkis

Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE brings to screen one of Marvel Comics most menacing bad guys in Carnage.

Set against Tom Hardy's somewhat more comedic Villain than perhaps hardened Venom fans would prefer, this sequel from Andy Serkis is a tighter more constraint film and one that sticks (mostly) to delivering what the title promises.

Despite a first half hour if domestic arguments and a break up for Venom and Brock, the film slowly paces for its epic fight and it doesn't disappoint. Watching Woody Harrelson crank it to kooky 11 is entertaining from the outset and a connection to his past creates a driving force to escape from prison. In doing so a confrontation with Brock leads to him bonding with the symbiote and becoming the titular villain.

The menacing effects between Carnage and Kasidy are more horrific and feel much more Cronenberg than the fluidity of Venom, a conscious decision to reflect on the absent bond between host and alien but one that is ever so gratifying to watch. His actions lead to much death but nothing so graphic as to upgrade the age rating but this is a 15 for horror through tone and less from what is in screen. In a world of superclean superheroes, it's refreshing to see Hardy a disheveled anti-hero and having fun with it. There's no sense of glory in Brock and for an actor like Hardy to grasp that, works well against the backdrop of Hemsworth, Holland and Cumberbatch.

For Marvel fans, there's an end credits sequence that teases a match up against the arch nemesis built one that asks more questions than gives a satisfying conclusion. The film does suffer from Superhero tropes throwing in one too many superpowered characters and lacing one scene of humour too much but overall VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE is a great ball of fun and one that never outstays it's welcome.