Formula: Venom - 15 Minutes
It's hard to understand how we got here. Through a very confusing series of rights deals and ownership changes, Venom is a bonafide hit series. Sony took one of the coolest Marvel villains and not only turned him into a protagonist, but a comedic buddy premise. I hope whoever got this to work got a big promotion or payday, because it doesn't make a lot of sense.
So, here we are with a Venom sequel. Inevitably, it brings in the equally cool Carnage. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is still a reporter, making his chaotic relationship with his symbiote work. After an encounter with serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), Brock accidentally gives him the symbiote as well. And if you thought it was a problem when Brock had this insatiable entity, just wait until you see one with a deranged serial killer.
The most striking thing about this movie is how compact it is. It's only a hair over 90 minutes. It does the slightest bit of world-building, but the story is pretty streamlined. It's a dual narrative of Brock and Venom having a breakup of sorts at the same time that Kasady and Carnage get united with Kasady's psychotic true love (Naomie Harris) while getting bloody revenge on everyone who has wronged him. There aren't a lot of middle beats or distractions. The movie finds just enough time for Michelle Williams and Reid Scott as Brock's ex and her current partner respectively. It's a waste of Williams to some extent. At the same time, it's a nice paycheck for her for easy work, and I'm always happy to see her in anything. What's the harm?
The key partnership is Brock, played by Tom Hardy, and Venom, voiced with derangement by Tom Hardy. I suppose there's queer subtext to this. I'm not the authority on that. If nothing else, I think it's a depiction of a close and vulnerable friendship. This is such a weird and enjoyable duo. They really took the response to the lobster scene in the first movie and ran with it.
This isn't my favorite superhero franchise, but it's arguably the most unique one out there. And that's something. This movie feels like a throwback in its simplicity which is pretty refreshing. I think they could've gotten a little more out of Harrelson's Carnage, but since short changing him was in the interest of keeping the movie shockingly brief, I'll allow it. Seriously, a superhero movie under 100 minutes is such a unicorn.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment