Now that we’ve finally got more new movies releasing almost weekly, I’m getting my eyeballs on better flicks.
Well, at least that’s the overall hope!
Still, I went into “Venom: Let There be Carnage” with marginally more excitement than its predecessor, 2018’s “Venom.”
Mostly because I haven’t had much faith in movies from the “Spider-Man” comic universe translating well onto the big screen.
However, I spent more time laughing in my seat last week with Venom and Eddie Brock’s impromptu bits of ‘couples’ counseling” than anything else.
If you’re expecting something seriously dedicated to the comics or kid-friendly, this isn’t exactly the movie for you.
It’s definitely geared for older teens and adults!
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Venom, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel and Tencent Pictures.
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the second film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and the sequel to Venom (2018).
The film is directed by Andy Serkis from a screenplay by Kelly Marcel, based on a story she wrote with Tom Hardy who stars as Eddie Brock/Venom alongside Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, Woody Harrelson, Jack Bandeira, and Olumide Olorunfemi.
The film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some strong language, disturbing material, and suggestive references and clocks in at 97 minutes long with one mid-credit scene.
In 1996, a young Cletus Kasady (Bandeira) watches helplessly as his love, Frances Barrison (Olorunfemi), is taken away from St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children to the Ravencroft Institute.
On the way, she uses her sonic scream powers to escape and attacks young police officer Patrick Mulligan (Graham).
He shoots Barrison in the eye and suffers an injury to his ear.
Unbeknownst to Mulligan, who believes he killed her, Barrison is taken to the facility, which is hardened against her powers.
In the present day, Mulligan, now a detective, contacts Eddie Brock (Hardy) to speak to Kasady (Harrelson), a serial killer who refuses to talk to anyone other than Brock.
Kasady speaks in riddles and offers to give his exclusive to Brock if he promises to print something for him first – which he does.
Though on his way out of the prison, Brock and Venom see Kasady’s cell covered in scribbles, drawings, and ravings.
After the visit, Brock is able to figure out where Kasady has hidden the bodies of victims thanks to Venom’s photographic memory and the Internet.
That finding gives him a huge career boost.
Kasady, who is sentenced to lethal injection after the bodies are found invites Brock to attend his execution.
However, Venom is provoked to attack Kasady via insults towards Brock.
That prompts Kasady bites Brock’s hand, ingesting a small part of the symbiote with Brock’s blood.
Shortly after that, Brock is contacted by his ex-fiancée Anne Weying (Williams), who tells him that she is now engaged to Dr. Dan Lewis (Scott).
That’s where everything starts to go downhill and Venom and Brock’s relationship gets more strained.
Still, overall it’s a hilarious movie and has a bit less gore than say, “Zombieland,” but enough poetic violence to more than make up for it.
