Venom: The Last Dance Movie review: Tom Hardy's efforts can't elevate this brainless fun flick.

 It's always been clear to me that in order to enjoy any of the two Venom movies, you have to switch off your brain. Both narratives require no comprehensive logic to understand the plot, and in fact, trying to understand it will hinder the overall viewing experience. The same can easily be said for the third installment in the trilogy - Venom: The Last Dance, is full of dumb fun that requires no logic to get through. Though, is it any better than its predecessors? Is it a fitting ending for the Venom trilogy? 

To start off with some quick context, I'd call myself a fan of the first Venom - though not well received amongst critics as its clearly not a 'good' movie in any sense, it was entertaining as hell, focusing on the developing relationship between the Symbiote and Eddie tackling billionaire Carlton Drake's Riot (Riz Ahmed). What's more important these days, though, is that the audiences had a blast with it - the film currently holds an 8-% audience score on rotten tomatoes. The second film however, whilst still liked by audiences, failed to engage me despite not viewing it through a critical lens. 

This film follows Eddie and Venom on the run as they face pursuit from the Symbiote world and earth. Though in terms of substance, thats all you can essentially take away from the plot of the movie. There's simply too much going on in Venom's final dance. The A-story of this film is a blast, however, as we follow Eddie and Venom reminiscing and trying to get to New York whilst on the run from creatures from the Symbiote world and the cops (which we don't really see, but I'll allow it) - though, there's other sub-plots that we spend a little too much time on. The introduction of Juno Temples character, Dr. Teddy Paine - who, in all honesty, didn't need that much screen time and depth despite the great actress Juno Temple is. The Symbiote lore is fine for fans of the comics, yet again, this isn't the time and place to be spending so much time developing it. This doesn't even feel like a 'Venom' movie because of aspects like this being overtly expressed. 

The third act is easily the best aspect of this movie. Fun fights, and even a slight hint of emotion. Though what could've made this film more fun, though (and the ending hit harder) is if it scrapped all the side storylines and spent more time developing the relationship of Eddie and Venom further. Whenever the pair are on screen, we get the fun we saw in Venom (2018). Though, the rest of the film is spent developing unnecessary side-stories without any pay-off in terms of stakes. Our antagonist, Knull, seems to be a formidable villain - though we only see him on-screen for about 2 minutes, and the runtime is spent tackling his henchmen rather than himself (at least he's not a one and done villain, though, as he does have potential!) 

As for the performances and other technical aspects - Tom Hardy has always been great as venom with his charm, and he brings this to the final installment. The rest of the cast, however, try their best, yet the dialogue and poorly written characters let them down. This is definitely not Juno or Chiwetel at their best. In terms of the CGI and editing, some scenes are super scruffy and the film almost feels incomplete, though it's fairly well put together by the final fight. 

In terms of a fitting end to this trilogy, Venom: The Last Dance isn't one, as the fun only really spikes in the second half of the film - and any emotion's and thrills shed here are largely unearned. Though, it's still one you need to switch off your brain completely to even enjoy the slightest. 

Overall rating: 5.5/10 - Dumb Fun.