{"id":9906,"date":"2024-12-10T23:49:30","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T04:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9906"},"modified":"2024-12-10T23:49:30","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T04:49:30","slug":"venom-let-there-be-carnage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/12\/10\/venom-let-there-be-carnage\/","title":{"rendered":"Venom: Let There Be Carnage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/strong> (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Action-Sci-Fi-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 97 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence and action, some strong language, disturbing material, suggestive references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Andy Serkis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kelly Marcel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marco Beltrami\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Robert Richardson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 1, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, Peggy Lu, Stephen Graham, Sian Webber.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $213.6M (US)\/$506.9M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0If there\u2019s one thing to be learned from Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/strong>, it\u2019s that even symbiotic relationships can be complicated. In the sequel to the hit 2018 film, the strains of living together are starting to get to reporter Eddie Brock (Hardy, Mad Max: Fury Road) and Venom, the alien symbiote inhabiting his body. They\u2019re both feeling trapped.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Venom\u2019s biggest complaint is that Eddie doesn\u2019t let him eat people. It\u2019s his number one rule; it\u2019s written in big letters on the back of a pizza box. He lives on a steady diet of chocolate and live chickens he can\u2019t bring himself to kill. It\u2019s not cutting it for him. Eddie, for his part, feels like Venom is keeping him from living his life. He\u2019s still not over his ex Anne (Williams, Blue Valentine) who\u2019s just informed him of her engagement to current beau Dr. Dan (Scott, Veep). Things reach a point where the two separate for a brief period of time before realizing they\u2019re better together. In other words, Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/strong> is your typical love story albeit one involving a black gooey monster with lots of sharp teeth.<\/p>\n

\u00a0HOWEVER, their problems don\u2019t amount to hill of beans considering what they\u2019re about to go up against. It seems there\u2019s a new alien symbiote in town, a red chap calling himself Carnage. It all starts when Eddie\u2019s reporting leads to serial killer Cletus Kasady (Harrelson, Natural Born Killers) being sent to Death Row for multiple murders. He attacks Eddie during a visit, biting his hand and ingesting a few drops of his infected blood. The new symbiote Carnage makes his debut during the execution attempt and helps his host escape into the night.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Their first stop is Ravencroft, the secret facility where his childhood sweetheart Frances (Harris, Skyfall) is being held because of her supersonic scream powers. Reunited after 25 years, he breaks her out with Carnage\u2019s help. While this is going on, a newly liberated Venom is jumping from body to body while Eddie is questioned by police about Cletus\u2019 escape. This is where Eddie realizes how much he needs Venom. If he\u2019s to fight Cletus\/Carnage, they\u2019re going to have to do it together.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Andy Serkis, better known as Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Venom: Let There Be Carnage <\/strong>is an enjoyable B-level superhero movie. Although it\u2019s a Marvel movie, it\u2019s not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (not yet, at least). It\u2019s a smaller-scale movie in terms of what\u2019s NOT at stake, namely a world-ending scenario. Oddly enough, it\u2019s a metaphor for man\u2019s inner struggle with his own personal demons. In this case, the demons are literal, physical (CGI-rendered) beings, but you get the idea. Then again, I might be giving Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/strong> too much credit. It is, after all, a silly superhero flick aimed at teens and fanboys of which I am neither. I still liked it though.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let\u2019s dispense with the most obvious of critiques. Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/strong> is extremely CGI-heavy. What else would you expect from a movie about a parasitic alien that manifests itself as a black, gooey, sinewy being? In this case, we\u2019re talking about two such beings. That\u2019s not to mention all the action scenes involving said entities. To the film\u2019s credit, you can see the action much clearer than you could in the original. That\u2019s due in large part to the expertise of cinematographer Robert Richardson who\u2019s worked alongside such Hollywood luminaries as Martin Scorsese (Casino), Oliver Stone (Platoon) and Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). A lot of it still takes place in the dark, but the images are more vivid thanks to Richardson.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hardy, who also provides Venom\u2019s growling voice, is pretty good as Eddie, an insecure type with a knack for self-sabotage. It\u2019s interesting to observe his relationship with Venom who, in turns, acts as something of a cheering section as Eddie tries to get his act together. Harrelson hams it up mightily as the misunderstood villain, a killer whose abusive childhood made him what he is today. That\u2019s really all the insight we get into his character. If there\u2019s one thing Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/strong> lacks, it\u2019s character development. Everybody you see has approximately the same dimensions as the illustrations on the pages of a comic book. Maybe it\u2019s intentional, maybe it\u2019s not. Either way, it doesn\u2019t really matter. I don\u2019t think the target audience cares very much.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/strong> is yet another cinematic victim of the pandemic. It was originally supposed to come out last October. It jumped around a lot on the schedule. At one point, it was briefly delayed until next year before finally settling into an October 1 release. I\u2019m wondering about something the studio hasn\u2019t commented on. Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/strong> runs a scant 97 minutes, much shorter than the average superhero movie. Although it allows for a faster, zippier ride; it makes me wonder what was left on the cutting room floor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In any event, Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/strong> is a decent flick. It has plenty of action and a fair amount of humor. There\u2019s one great sequence at a Halloween rave where he becomes the hit of the party due to his amazing costume (or so the attendees think). Peggy Lu, reprising her role from the first movie as the convenience store owner, provides nice comic relief. There\u2019s even a bit of heart at its gooey, icky center. It\u2019s not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it\u2019s good enough to warrant a Saturday matinee viewing.\"\"<\/p>\n

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Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Action-Sci-Fi-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 97 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence and action, some strong language, disturbing material, suggestive references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Andy Serkis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kelly Marcel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marco Beltrami\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Robert Richardson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 1, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-sequels-remakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Venom-Let-There-Be-Carnage-.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9906"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10245,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9906\/revisions\/10245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}