Kelly Marcel’s Venom: The Last Dance may be marketed as the finale for the Venom trilogy, but the overwhelming number of side plots and underdeveloped villains make it difficult for the film to tie everything up in a nice, pretty bow. However, the wackiness and the enduring dynamic between protagonists Eddie Brock and Venom add a delightful charm that’s not to be ignored. 

Released on Oct. 25 of this year, Tom Hardy revisited the Spider-Man antihero for a final time, wrapping up the previous releases of Venom (2018) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). Expectations for the film were relatively low, especially after the scrapping of the post-credits scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) where it was alluded that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) would adopt Venom’s powers like he famously does in the comics.

Venom: The Last Dance opened with a dreamlike scene that felt reminiscent of Valkyrie’s flashback scene in Thor Ragnarok (2018) where Loki used his powers to force her to mentally revisit the extinction of the Valkyrie army. But in Venom, Knull, the god of symbiotes, is set up to be the main antagonist, providing background on how the symbiotes arrived on Earth. They had revolted against Knull and fled to Earth, resulting in them being hunted down by a new cast of monstrous creatures known as Xenophages.

But with Knull’s lack of screen time and overall inactive role in the film, his role as the primary villain felt unclear, especially with all of the other plotlines that were explored. The film also sets up another antagonist in Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor), a commander for Imperium whose motive is to track down Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and capture his symbiote partner, Venom. While Strickland and Knull share the goal of eliminating Brock and Venom, Knull wants them gone since they’re the only thing standing between him and ultimate reign over Earth. On the other hand, Strickland just seems to hold a grudge against Brock. Either way, the ongoing conflicts make the film feel a little confused.

Following Brock being on the run, he and Venom are rescued by a family of four that are hellbent on spotting aliens. It’s ironic considering Venom’s alien origins, but this storyline felt out of place among the already-complicated conflicts between Brock, Knull, and Commander Strickland. They eventually find themselves in Las Vegas, where the family intends to visit Area 51 while Brock and Venom continue their trek to New York. 

Despite these conflicting plotlines, the back-and-forth between Brock and Venom was enjoyable, scaled back from the overly cheesy sense of “trying too hard” that caused Venom: Let There Be Carnage to fall short of audience expectations, a sentiment that was echoed by IGN’s review of the film. Plus, the sight of Tom Hardy in a suit is always an added bonus. There were also several funny references to pop culture, including Brock yelling, “How does Tom Cruise do this???” as he and Venom were clinging onto a plane in hopes of arriving at their final destination, New York.

The action scenes are riveting and pleasantly not overshadowed by the constant humor and ridiculousness that the film executes well. There were also several instances where Brock lost his shoes, a detail that revealed how much the symbiote and his host have gone through in all their walks of life. They even go so far as to put on their dancing shoes for an entertaining musical number between Brock and returning character Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu) in Vegas (yes, he lost those too). The fun addition was a callback to the film’s title, which was significant considering this would be Eddie and Venom’s last dance together. 

Because Venom is still affiliated with the Sony-verse, the film is slated for a Netflix release in January 2025 rather than a Disney+ one. It debuted at $51 million, marking this as Sony’s fifth $50 million start this year. If you compare that to other Marvel releases, it’s only $5 million higher than The Marvels (2024), another MCU project that bombed at the box office. But since Venom: The Last Dance has already been out for nearly a month, it’s well on its way to surpassing this, especially since international territories have already contributed a whopping $124 million to the gross.

It seems we’ve entered an era where comic book films are losing their appeal. Whether that’s a result of an increase in mediocrity among superhero films or just a fading interest among audiences, these movies have lost the spark that once had viewers captivated. Like most recent MCU projects, the plot is overall convoluted and the antagonists aren’t as compelling as they’re made out to be. But if you approach it with an open mind, you may find yourself entertained by the way this film embraces its absurdity. Overall, it provides a unique farewell to an antihero that has given us countless memories.