{"id":29799,"date":"2024-10-24T00:39:26","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T07:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29799"},"modified":"2024-10-24T00:39:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T07:39:26","slug":"venom-the-last-dance-isnt-always-graceful-but-delivers-some-superhero-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29799","title":{"rendered":"VENOM: THE LAST DANCE Isn\u2019t Always Graceful, But Delivers Some Superhero Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 110 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Sony Pictures opens exclusively at\ncinemas and on IMAX screens on October 25th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2018, it seemed like the Marvel superhero film\nfranchise was wrapping up. Avengers: Infinity War<\/em> had been a big hit and\naudiences were waiting for a big final act for many of the studio\u2019s characters.\nVenom<\/em>, a villain from the Spider-Man<\/em> universe, appeared and\ngarnered some unexpected attention. It wasn\u2019t well received by critics, but\nbecame a massive success, grossing approximately 8 times its production budget\nat the box office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story revolved around reporter Edde Brock (Tom Hardy),\nwho discovers that a bio-engineering company is experimenting with symbiotic\nbeings found in a comet that had crashed to the Earth. Brock accidentally ended\nup becoming a host, sharing his body with the impulsive, violent alien organism\nknown as Venom. This reviewer didn\u2019t mind the original film. It was zippy,\naction-packed and ultimately emphasized dark comedy (including entertaining\nphysical and verbal fights between the two) over its more serious comic-book\ncounterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Venom: The Last Dance<\/em>, the third and potentially\nfinal film in the series, Brock\/Venom is a fugitive from the law. After\nspending time away in the Marvel multiverse, the leads return home, only to\ndiscover that they are not only still wanted, but have been blamed for the death\nof an old associate. The lead and parasite find themselves being pursued by\ngovernment agents Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and scientist Dr. Payne\n(Juno Temple), who are working out of the soon-to-be-decommissioned Area 51 in\nRoswell. Additionally, Knull (Andy Serkis), a powerful, evil deity who created\nthe symbiotes and wants nothing more than to free himself and destroy the\nuniverse, is hunting them. Specifically, he needs an element that only Brock\nand Venom possess and sends his monstrous minions to find the pair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pacing certainly isn\u2019t an issue here, as once again, the\nstory moves at a rapid pace. Perhaps too quickly, in fact. The backstory of\nseveral new characters, including Strickland and Dr. Payne feels rushed and\ndoesn\u2019t make as strong an impression as hoped for. Knull is certainly a\nfearsome antagonist, but he doesn\u2019t interact with the leads. The heroes are\nsimply being chased by a seemingly unkillable monster. It\u2019s a disturbing beast\nthat is threatening because of its regenerative qualities, but the movie doesn\u2019t\nspend any significant time with the big foe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thankfully, Hardy has the Brock\/Venom character down, which\nmeans he is able to make the most of the central strained and parasitic\nrelationship. There are significant laughs as the actor contorts his body and\nperforms loud, bickering disagreements between Brock and Venom while sharing\nthe same body). Venom, while dangerous, is almost child-like in its impulses,\nleading to several bluntly funny statements. And the nature of the symbiotic\nnature of Venom allows for some outrageous action and mimicry in several\nsequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among new characters, those who do stand out are a hippie\nfamily led by patriarch Martin (Rhys Ifans). Ifans is extremely funny as a man\neager to see Area 51, perhaps even an alien, and share his life philosophy with\nanyone he meets. The character gets a few of the film\u2019s best lines. In fact,\nall of the unexpected interactions between Brock\/Venom and the tourists work\nwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie does try to juggle in a bit more seriousness.\nBrock looks weathered and beaten in this chapter, more aware of how his life\nhas changed for the worse since being inexorably tied to Venom. The realization\nthat Knull\u2019s beasts will never stop hunting them as long as both are alive adds\na bit of drama to the proceedings. All the emoting feels out-of-place\nsurrounded by the film\u2019s more outrageous moments, but at least the finale finds\nan appropriate balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t a fantastic picture. It\u2019s all over-the-place\ntonally, but the main relationship and the lead\u2019s interactions with a few new\ncharacters are enjoyable to watch. And some of the action is creatively\nrendered. Venom: The Last Dance<\/em> isn\u2019t an Avengers<\/em>-esque superhero\nfinale, but it has enough quirks and amusing eccentricities to earn it a modest\nrecommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTE: Viewers would be well advised to wait until the very\nend of the credits, as there are<\/em> a pair of scenes adding more story details.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 110 minutes This feature from Sony Pictures opens exclusively at cinemas and on IMAX screens on October 25th. Back in 2018, it seemed like the Marvel superhero film franchise was wrapping up. Avengers: Infinity War had been a big hit and audiences were waiting for a big final act for many of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,697,1406,4268,4660,11353,13333,16960,18709,18839,19362,23016,23713,23714,23715,23716],"class_list":["post-29799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-action","tag-andy-serkis","tag-chiwetel-ejiofor","tag-comedy","tag-juno-temple","tag-marvel","tag-rhys-ifans","tag-sony-pictures","tag-spider-man","tag-superhero","tag-tom-hardy","tag-venom-the-last-dance","tag-venom-the-last-dance-film-review","tag-venom-the-last-dance-movie-review","tag-venom-the-last-dance-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}