How can a monster with a hunger for human brains fit into a world of heroes? In the instance of Venom, Marvel appears to have responded by making him humorous and allowing him to battle monsters that are even more murderous than he is. Thus, Andy Serkis’ Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the second film for a character who could have been a true Deadpool-like outsider, portrays its subject as little more than a Marvel Universe stepchild; he’s doomed to inhabit stories structured exactly like the Avengers’ — until Disney’s synergistic needs demand that he actually crosses over into their saga.
The film, which was written by actor Tom Hardy and long-time collaborator Kelly Marcel, does build the chemistry between the titular extra-terrestrial and the human he is compelled to inhabit while within Earth’s atmosphere. However, the distinctness of this buddy-movie connection is sometimes overshadowed by massive set pieces of CG mayhem that feel just like those seen in the good guys’ flicks. Though it will delight most fans of the first chapter from 2018, Carnage demonstrates that superhero weariness extends to nonheroic as well.
There’s nothing wrong with the climactic fight, but the nicest part about Carnage’s action is that it doesn’t go on past the hour-and-a-half mark. Not to mention the credits and the obligatory hidden-scene coda, which suggests a return to Venom’s origins. The previous Spider-Man picture starring Venom (from 2007) is the webslinger’s worst big-screen adventure to date. Let’s hope the next time they meet paths, things go better — or at least go wrong in a more amusing way.
