Venom: The Last Dance review – Tom Hardy’s finale has two left feet

Venom: The Last Dance signals the end of Tom Hardy’s turn as Eddie Brock and Venom, and the goodbye to the bloodthirsty symbiote is an energetic but slightly confused affair. 

After two movies that pledged the potential of an Earth-bound symbiote attack, Venom: The Last Dance makes good on this promise. Eddie Brock and Venom are hiding out in Mexico, and with a manhunt out for Eddie and a secret government faction out for Venom, the two must race across the US to get to New York.

Oh, and Knull’s floating around in space, waiting to be sprung from his intergalactic imprisonment caused by his own kind. There’s a lot going on in Venom 3, and what results is a questionable mess that also happens to be pretty uneventful in the grand scheme of the franchise.

As the name suggests, The Last Dance is a finale of sorts for this iteration of Eddie Brock and his alien alter ego. Because of this, the movie tries to conquer both high-stakes action and emotional beats. Some of this it achieves, but not enough to make Venom a well-rounded trilogy with a sensical ending. 

One last dance

The Last Dance opens with Eddie and Venom in the Mexican bar we saw them hiding out in during the Spider-Man: No Way Home mid-credits sequence. As expected, they get sucked up through the portal and spat back out into their universe, landing in a tired version of the same bar. 

Quickly, they realize they can’t go back to San Francisco thanks to Eddie’s suspected murder of Detective Mulligan at the end of the last movie. Their new plan of action? Head to New York where they can start anew and Venom can catch a glimpse of his new obsession: the Statue of Liberty.

The two then take off and begin an adventure that never really starts. They quickly become sidetracked with an aggressive military operation seeking out Venom for nondescript experiments, plus a Xenophage sent down by Knull to capture the symbiote. 

All of this is given little time to sink in during Venom’s final outing, which is pretty astonishing since the film is obsessed with making sure there’s as much exposition as possible for the rest of the run. (In one scene, Eddie pointedly tells nobody: “They think it’s me,” while watching a news report that makes it very clear the police think it’s him who killed Mulligan. Thanks for the clarification, Eddie.)

Too much too late

It seems an odd choice to introduce so many new characters in what’s supposed to be Eddie and Venom’s last ride together. A conflicted military general, a cookie-cutter scientist with a tragic backstory, and a quirky hippy-adjacent family on the hunt for aliens are all brought into the mix, giving less time to the symbiotic relationship than should be due.

The action sequences are admittedly fun, with fight scenes taking place in rapid rivers and a final battle that gives the movie a boost you think it’s starting to lack. Stephen Graham makes a relieving return as Mulligan, and his few scenes are the strongest in the movie by far, injecting a much-needed intensity into the fray. 

Sony Pictures Releasing

Hardy does double duty as Eddie and Venom for a final time, and their banter does bring about some genuine laughs. It also injects the necessary silliness into this final act, ensuring their moments don’t take themselves too seriously. The more tender moments between the two also land very nicely, cutting through a lot of other nonsense. 

Where things go wrong is where The Last Dance tries to tackle heavier themes; the morality of the government’s experiments, what it means to believe in other life forms, and fulfilling your destiny. (Okay, so maybe Venom movies don’t need themes, but just one theme might be nice.)

These beats are buried under often empty characters and even emptier dialog, and when the final scene comes around, there’s not enough goodwill built up for it to make a huge impact. 

Venom: The Last Dance review score – 2/5

After three movies, Tom Hardy’s take on the chaotic and toxic relationship between Eddie Brock and Venom has ended. Unfortunately, The Last Dance doesn’t feel like a grand goodbye as much as a half-hearted “see you later.” 

Tight action sequences and some genuinely touching moments between the main pair should satisfy many fans, but anyone looking for something heartier or a beefier plot will be met with vague references to being “a believer” and a scene centered around getting Hardy in a tuxedo. 

For a film series with a divisive past, it’s been a complicated dance. Even now that it’s over, it’s still hard to tell if it was worth it.

Venom: The Last Dance hits theaters on October 25.

For more, take a look at all the other new movies out this month. You can also learn more about all the best superhero movies of all time, and see what’s going on with the upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows.