Venom 2 fits the bill: but don’t expect anything more than mindless fun

First off, you won’t find any spoilers here. I’m not going to talk about anything that isn’t mentioned in the trailers.

Carnage. Blood bath. After all, the film title does promise «the goods». Not because it guarantees excessive violence. Carnage is a name. In the comics, it’s a symbiote from outer space. And one of the most infamous Marvel villains ever.

It sounds like the best premise for a film. Or at least, you’d be forgiven for thinking that.

The plot

Investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) still doesn’t have a handle on his own life. Not since – or perhaps because – part one, when a symbiote called Venom (also Tom Hardy) from outer space attached to him. Why? Because Venom needs to eat brains to survive. Of course, that doesn’t work. I mean, Eddie isn’t a baddie. Unless he happens to be acting like an arse in the moment. Which is something that happens often. And that creates… tension.

Distraction comes just in the nick of time. Notorious serial killer and prisoner Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), known for his insanity, doesn’t want to talk to the police or other journalists. He only wants to talk to Brock. He’d share his «story» with him if, in return, Eddie agrees to be his friend – or is there more to it than meets the eye? Sensing a big story, Eddie and Venom instead outfox Kasady and coax valuable evidence out of him.

In doing so, Eddie manages to spring back into the spotlight. But for Kasady, who’s now well and truly pissed off, the disclosed evidence is a death sentence. A scuffle ensues during Eddie’s last visit before Kasady’s execution. As a means of transferring and infecting. A part of Venom now lives in Kasady. And Carnage (also Woody Harrelson) is born.

The carnage begins.

OK – so most of the characters are just OK

The best thing about «Venom: Let there be Carnage» is that the film has the decency to finish after 90 minutes. I mean, it’s not that bad. It’s more that I couldn’t go along with this flimsy story any more. As it happens, Gollum actor and «Venom 2» director Andy Serkis is clever enough not to even try to glean more at any cost from this shallow template than it has to give.

The good news is this means the film is extremely entertaining. It hardly got going before it was heading for an action-packed ending. Not a second is boring. No scenes are dragged out unnecessarily. On the flip side, there’s the bad news. You’re left with the feeling that another script would have had much more material to work with. More to sink your teeth into.

In the end, the film was graced with the crème de la crème of Hollywood, such as actor Stephen Graham. As well as Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams and Naomie Harris. All of them Oscar-nominees. But the script that was penned by Kelly Marcel, Tom Hardy and Todd McFarlane doesn’t really give them much to do. At best, they’re just there to move the plot along. If at all.

Take Graham for example. He plays Mulligan, a cop who puts Shriek, played by Naomie Harris, in prison in the prologue of the film. That encourages Shriek to later join forces with Kasady/Carnage to get their own back on Mulligan. But Shriek herself is only in the film because her ability to scream really loud weakens the symbiotes. Otherwise, it’d be difficult for the film to have a baddie without an Achilles’ heel.

It means the same absurd situation comes up again and again (about three times): the protagonists appear. Shriek wants to scream them to death. But Carnage is just like: «Oy! That’s too loud. Shut up.» And Shriek goes: «OK.» And the film carries on.

What the–?!

What’s the point of getting such great names on board if they’re literally being silenced?! Average actors could have played out the scenes just as well.

The same goes for Michelle Williams, who plays Eddie Brock’s ex-girlfriend Anne Weying again. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she hated Eddie Brock. And rightly so. Brock isn’t just an arse; he’s also incompetent. The film wants to portray him as a failed but great investigative journalist. At the same time, without Venom’s help, he can’t even piece together the most basic pieces of evidence. Who rubber-stamps something like that?

And Weying, who’s now engaged to a doctor, is still always helping him, willing to sacrifice her life just to get him from one part of the plot to another. It’s not just that it doesn’t make any sense. It’s so obvious that it keeps pulling me out of the film.

Venom vs. Carnage – at least, to a certain extent

What’s more disappointing is the lack of interaction between Venom and Carnage, the two eponymous symbiotes. This makes the relationship a bit strange. Carnage has a profound hate for Venom because the latter is like his dad. But why is that the case? It just is. Characterisation done.

But it still works. Serial killer Cletus Kasady is super. Harrelson plays him so unusually casual and wacky, just as he always does. Somewhere between innocent politeness and roguish insanity. Sure, there are moments when the psycho unleashes his wrath and hits the walls, screaming, until his knuckles bleed. But Harrelson’s Kasady is the most threatening when he just dons his crooked grin and turns his stoner drivel into a creepy chant.

That’s the Cletus Kasady fans were hoping for.

And what about Carnage? There’s nothing – no characterisation. Nada. It’s just a creature that’s admittedly been well designed to look scary. Hats off to the CGI department. But Carnage himself is hardly a character. That may well be because the character of Carnage hardly ever comes up. It’s usually Kasady who speaks. Carnage only emerges when the subject changes to slaughter – given the film’s rating, it’s only slaughter scenes suitable for viewers aged 12 and above. It’s unclear why Carnage feels such an intense anger towards Venom. And Venom only fights Carnage because it fits in with the story. In other words, baddies against even worse baddies. It’s not exactly that compelling.

Tom Hardy shows that it can be another way. The screenplay keeps giving him and Brock/Venom more to do. It’s not surprising given Hardy had a hand in writing it.

Brock and Venom certainly still don’t get along. That gives rise to superbly funny inner dialogue, arguments and strange discussions. You could just as well have made a film of the two of them talking on a sofa for 90 minutes – that’s something I’d be here for.

I didn’t mind that the conflict between Brock and Venom was the same as their dispute in the first film, i.e. is Venom now a baddie because he wants to eat brains? Or is he one of the good ones because he only wants to suck out baddies’ brains?

«Venom, lethal protector» – that’s what they always say.

Either way, it’s good for the film. Because when it comes down to it, both of them have to exploit a symbiote. Venom can’t exist without a host, while Brock has superpowers he could use for a better life. Instead, they both make life hard for one another. This all translates as conflict and characterisation – all in all, super. But, without spoiling it too much, the resolution is just as awkward as the rest of the film. At some point, Venom just declares that he and Brock are a good «match». And Brock says that they have to now fight Carnage. Yawn.

Why is there no heart and soul in it?

You end up with a film that’s got rock-solid action scenes thanks to Serkis and unbeatably funny Brock-Venom interactions. But otherwise, it just seems disappointingly botched together without a thread of compassion.

With a bit more effort, this would have been a much better film. Brock could have been traumatised by the events of the first Venom film. Distraught, he would have tried to stop Venom eating more people. Meanwhile, Venom would have whispered into his ear something along the lines that if he only ate the worst of the baddies, it would be a kind of service to humankind. Morally, that’s a bit iffy. But it’s manageable. Until all of a sudden, Kasady and Carnage enter the playing field, and they like to kill for fun. It would be a manifestation of what could happen if Brock actually did give Venom complete control.

No Shriek. No Mulligan. No annoying ex-girlfriend. But it would mean there was enough space for a bit more Carnage, more character and conflict development, and a lot more action and jokes.

Verdict: not my cup of tea

Maybe I’m just too levelheaded for «Venom: Let there be Carnage». I’ll admit that I did find the film more fun than what I’ve written above may lead you to believe. Especially the bit when Brock and Venom get out their verbal clubs and start arguing like an old married couple. It felt like that 70% of the film. Thankfully.

The disappointment mostly comes up when I think about how much potential was gambled away. Particularly with the Carnage character – less with Cletus Kasady. When top-class actors such as Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Stephen Graham do nothing but annoy me, I’m aghast. That’s no mean feat for the script. It really should have been better written. And I don’t say that because I expect a «Venom» film to deliver a literary masterpiece with complex characters and profound motives behind the plot. But a bit more… logic, perhaps?

My advice: switch off your brain, switch on the film and then swiftly forget everything you’ve just seen. Or at least, don’t question it. It’s telling that the post-credits scene gives you more to talk about than the whole film put together.

«Venom: Let there be Carnage» comes to cinemas from 21 October. Runtime: 98 minutes.