Venom: The Last Dance: A Disappointing Finale for the Beloved Antiheroes (4K/Blu-ray)

The Film:

After six brief years, the "Venom" trilogy comes to a close with the grand finale "The Last Dance." These films have been a rather bizarre anomaly in the Sony Spider-Man Universe (SSU), having achieved great box office success despite their extremely negative reviews, a feat that the three non-Venom films didn't come close to matching. Whether it's the characters themselves, or perhaps just a particular love of the great Tom Hardy, the popularity of the series has been something to marvel at, but with that being said, there's still the nagging consensus that the first two films weren't all that great. Will the third and final outing finally be the one to give Eddie Brock & everyone's favorite symbiote an adventure worthy of the beloved antiheroes?

As the film opens, Eddie & Venom (Tom Hardy) are on the run after the events of the previous film, with the former being labeled the prime suspect in the murder of Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham), which puts the two on the path to New York City in an attempt to clear Eddie's name. Meanwhile, creatures known as Xenophages have been unleashed by Knull (Andy Serkis), the creator of the symbiotes, in order to obtain a codex that he can use to escape the prison the symbiotes trapped him in. Because a codex is formed when a symbiote brings its host back to life, one of the creatures quickly picks up Eddie & Venom's trail, making the pair's mission even more difficult as they struggle to reach their destination with the Xenophage & top secret military forces on their tail.

Looking back at the first two films, it's indeed fair to say that they weren't particularly good, though it's also rather fair to say that they weren't particularly terrible either. Their main issue seemed to be that they were just very standard actioners, and while they had the intriguing characters of Eddie & Venom at the forefront, the writers of these films just couldn't come up with anything all that interesting for them to do. It certainly didn't help that the villain of the first film was completely forgettable, and even though the antagonist of the second film was played by the always-fantastic three-time Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson, his character was still just a bland psychopath inhabited by an evil symbiote. Further still, both films ended in all-out brawls that lacked any creativity, once again causing them to be rather unremarkable outings.

As we come to the final film in the trilogy, no doubt viewers were hoping for a little more effort in regards to the villain and overall storyline, and, on the outset at least, it appears as though it was trying to head in that direction. We get an extremely brief introduction to Knull, who seems like they would be a somewhat formidable villain, and while his backstory is not explained very well, it at least hints at something more than we've gotten in the previous films. However, as the film progresses, the main antagonistic concentration ends up being on the creatures known as Xenophages, who are hunting down Eddie & Venom at the behest of who we thought was going to be the main villain.

For a third act, we end up with a bit of deja vu, except it's not just a brawl between the Xenophages & symbiotes, but also a shootout with military forces. However, this is all it ends up being, which is to say that the villain that the film sets up at the beginning never even gets to make an actual appearance. Of course, it's possible that they wanted to save Knull for later, but if that was the case, then much more thought needed to be put into an actual villain for this particular film, instead of just hoping that the generic symbiote-hunting creatures would be enough. In short, it's a pointless tease that doesn't pay off, and apparently won't pay off if the reports of the SSU's demise are true.

Eddie & Venom do still provide the film with a decent amount of entertainment, even as they become entangled with several lesser-developed characters, including a random family on their way to visit Area 51, as well as a general and a scientist that work there. However, it once again comes down to the writer (Kelly Marcel, who also directed) not being able to come up with anything interesting for them to do, turning the film into a mostly unengaging outing even before it gets to its disappointing climax. It is interesting to note that Tom Hardy has a co-writer credit for the story, so apparently he shares part of the blame as well when it comes to not being able to do much with these intriguing characters.

When it comes right to it, "Venom: The Last Dance" is an unsatisfying finale to the trilogy. Not only does it set up a villain that never actually appears, but it never even tries to replace them with anything more than extremely generic drones trying to do his bidding, all of which leads to a rather unmemorable storyline that definitely needed further thought & revision to punch it up a bit, not only for its antagonist, but for its bland spread of supporting characters as well. There is certainly a lot of potential to be found with Eddie & Venom, it's just a shame to see that, even over the course of three films, these filmmakers just weren't able to tap into it.

Video/Audio:

This edition comes with the film on 4K (2160p UHD) and Blu-ray (1080p HD), presented in 2.39:1 transfers of excellent quality. The film is rather dark at times, but the picture remains perfectly sharp & clear throughout the entire duration. Likewise, the Dolby Atmos audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Sony has done a wonderful job in both departments for the film's physical home release.

Special Features:

Venomous Laughs: Outtakes & Bloopers (2 Minutes)

Author of Mayhem: From Writer to Director (6 Minutes)

Venom Unleashed: The Action and Stunts (5 Minutes)

Bonded in Chaos: Tom Hardy (6 Minutes)

Venom's Inner Circle (6 Minutes)

Brock Bottom: Mrs. Chen Interview (3 Minutes)

Savor the Last Bite: The Venom Legacy (5 Minutes)

Deleted & Extended Scenes (7 Sequences, 12 Minutes)

Select Scene Previs (3 Sequences, 5 Minutes)

One Last Dance: Tom Morello & Grandson Music Video (3 Minutes)

The 4K/Blu-ray comes with a wide selection of featurettes and other bonuses, totaling just under an hour, including looks at the making of the film, the characters, the stunts, and more. Definitely plenty of material here for fans to delve into.

Conclusion:

"Venom: The Last Dance" brings the trilogy to a close with a finale that's an unfortunate disappointment. The film may feature the same intriguing main characters, who provide it with some entertainment value, but it also suffers from notable problems with its antagonist, supporting characters, and overall storyline, ultimately turning the titular character's final outing into another forgettable actioner that needed a lot more effort put into the writing.

Score: 2.5/5

Available on 4K/Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

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