If Eddie Brock and Venom had a favorite song, it’d be, “It’s a Hard-Knock Life.”
OK, that’s probably not true. But the human-symbiote duo has taken a few hard knocks ever since they first joined forces in the original Venom release.
One such hard knock is why they’re hunkering down in Mexico. The events of Venom: Let There Be Carnage led to the death of Det. Mulligan. Unfortunately for Eddie, everything thinks he did it. What’s worse, Eddie sees that exact news story playing on the TV in the Mexican bar he’s in.
“If we are on the news here, we are on the news everywhere,” Venom warns.
Venom doesn’t know just how right he is: The two of them are also big news back on Venom’s home planet of Klyntar.
That’s where Knull, the self-proclaimed “God of the Void,” created symbiotes like Venom. Knull also unleashed the xenophage, giant, six-legged lizards with blenders for mouths. Knull would love nothing more than to continue his world-destroying rampage, but he’s been incapacitated ever since his symbiote children betrayed him and ran away. For years, Knull has had nothing to do but stew in his hate. But recent events have given him a hope for escape.
You see, when the symbiote, Riot, stabbed Eddie in the back during the events of Venom, Venom was able to save Eddie’s life. But in doing so, that lifesaving bond created a Codex inside of Eddie—which, if brought back to Knull, could free Knull from his chains. Sensing that the Codex exists, Knull sends his teleporting xenophage out into the universe to track Eddie down.
In summary:
Knock #1: Eddie and Venom are being hunted by the full force of the United State military, which is intent on dispatching of Eddie and studying Venom.
Knock #2: They’re also being hunted by the xenophage, whose razor-sharp teeth can delete their enemies in an instant.
Knock #3: If Eddie and Venom captured by the former, it’s only a matter of time before they’re captured by the latter.
Knock #4 : If they’re captured by the latter, then it’s only a matter of time before Knull comes knocking at their planet’s door, ready to purge all life from it.
Yeah, it’s a hard-knock life for them, all right.
And maybe for everyone else, too, if they can’t stop Knull.
Like any superhero flick, Eddie, Venom and a handful of other characters put their lives on the line to protect others. Many give their lives in order to prevent Knull from being released. In a similar vein, symbiotes and humans work together to fight the far-stronger xenophage incursion.
One character learns how the suffering she went through when she was younger has helped to prepare her for a future trial.
Knull describes himself as the “God of the Void.” Venom tells Eddie that Knull is the creator of both the symbiotes and the xenophage. Another symbiote claims that Knull is older than the universe.
There are vague spiritual elements surrounding the creation of the Codex inside of Eddie, since it was made via the combined connection between Eddie and Venom’s essences. Venom jokes about being having “infinite wisdom as a celestial being.”
Eddie and Venom briefly imitate the Creation of Adam painting, with Venom’s tentacle standing in for God’s finger. A man crosses himself. Someone describes the xenophage as a “creature from hell.”
A hippie uses a dream catcher to air dry his socks. He also tells of a spiritual doorway in the mind.
Two jokes involve references to the male anatomy. A woman wears a dress that reveals cleavage. Venom claims that Eddie could win “sexiest man of the year.”
The Last Dance and its tagline, “’Til Death Do Us Part,” both reference a wedding, alluding to the partnership between Eddie and Venom (which, to be clear, is completely platonic).
As you may expect by now, Venom does eat the heads off four gang members, leaving their decapitated bodies to fall to the ground. But this time, Venom’s not the one doing the majority of the stomach stuffing.
Instead, the xenophage are the main culprits in this movie’s bloodletting. Whether they stuff humans or symbiotes into their blender-like mouths, the end result is the same: The victim gets eviscerated, and all that’s left is a brief puff of the victim’s blood out of the xenophage’s back. A handful of humans and symbiotes meet grisly ends this way, and one poor soldier, saved at the last moment, is dragged away with both of his legs missing.
Someone is stabbed through the chest by a tentacle. Others die in a giant explosion. Acid burns one character. In a few instances, a xenophage is cut to pieces, but its body stitches the creature’s sinews back together again to heal it. A helicopter crashes, killing its riders. One person commits suicide by blowing himself up with a grenade.
A soldier gets shot and killed. Someone cuts a man’s cheek with a knife. Someone else chokes a man with a chain. We’re told that a gang was raising fighting dogs. Some of those dogs bite a man. We see a severe gash in a man’s abdomen.
In a flashback, a girl and boy are struck by lightning, and the boy dies.
The f-word is used once and is paired with “mother.” The s-word is used 13 times. Profanities such as “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–k,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss” are used, too. God’s name is used in vain nine times, including two instances that are paired with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is used in vain four times.
Eddie complains about feeling “drunk and hungover” simultaneously. Venom fixes a drink for Eddie. A man takes a shot of liquor. Eddie encounters an intoxicated individual in Las Vegas.
A drunk urinates on Eddie’s feet. A dog vomits. People gamble.
Sure, Dr. Strange never gets the girl. And yeah, Spider-Man always loses some variation of his favorite relative.
But those are good days in the eyes of Eddie Brock, who always seems to be one more bad day away from becoming Sony’s most down-on-his-luck character.
The poor guy can’t seem to catch a break. Scientists want to kill him—or at least chop him into little pieces to study how they move. Other symbiotes want to kill him. The United States military wants to kill him. And now, the so-called God of the Void has it out for him, too.
All of that yields a story with more emotional moments than previous installments in this series, so The Last Dance hits a little harder than you might have suspected. Whether it’s a quiet moment comforting a child or Venom reflecting on all the fun the two have enjoyed together, we find tiny gems of hope in a trilogy that makes Eddie somewhat of a glum punching bag who can hit back.
But as the previous movies also illustrated, even glum punching bags can hit hard, which is why their opponents strive to hit harder still. And the xenophage are some of the most violent yet, reducing any sentient life that falls into their maw into something like cherry Fanta spewed from an overactive humidifier. And whether they’re dodging certain death or just talking about their circumstances, you can be sure Venom and Eddie will toss a crude word or two in for good measure.
Venom: The Last Dance can be fun. It can even be funny. But it’s packaged in a vulgar, violent narrative, one that might not leave you dancing by the time the credits roll.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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