I don't know what's with me and Marvel movies these days, but I got to watch yet another 2024 Marvel movie again. This one actually had a little bit of hype before when the trailer came out, but I never even heard of it when it finally came out for some reason. I decided to go find out why that was. I bring you Venom: The Last Dance.
After the whole Carnage situation, Eddie and Venom are now fugitives. They find themselves in Mexico and decide that New York would be a nicer place to lay low, so they set off there while trying to avoid the authorities.
Meanwhile, we are made aware of a new threat from Venom's planet, Knull. Knull created the symbiotes but was betrayed and trapped by them. But now he has a chance of escaping. Apparently, Venom and Eddie have fused and created a key called the codex that could set him free. He sends his other creations, Xenophages, to hunt Venom down and bring the Codex.
The movie started with the normal thrill and relatively funny moments we expect to get from the Venom movies, but then down the line, it starts to fade. You start to feel like, what sort of story is this? There are a lot of questionable parts in a bid to seem funny. We get it, Venom is a chill Alien who likes to crack jokes despite how terrifying he is, but there's no way you're telling me he has no survival instinct. He does a lot of questionable things that just feel over the top, and maybe it'd make a much younger person laugh, but to me, it just wasn't funny some of the things he did. I just couldn't comprehend it. Perhaps I am getting too old and shouldn't be watching Marvel movies, but Marvel was a big part of my childhood, so I don't think I am stopping anytime soon.
Along the line though, as I approached the end of the movie, it started to pull me in once more. I began to see the elements of Marvel movies that made me fall in love with them in the first place. Then the ending, oh the ending, from the title you can already somewhat predict what is going to happen at the end. But then, I couldn't predict the manner in which it happened. And to be honest, it managed to take control of my emotions. Something only good movies can do.
The 3rd movie is better than the second movie, which felt off for the majority of it. But the first Venom movie will always be the best in my opinion.
I have noticed a pattern in the Marvel movies of last year and the year before, it looks like they're rebooting the universe. And the recent movie that came out, Thunderbolts (though I'm yet to watch it), confirms this. I'm starting to feel old knowing the majority of the childhood superheroes will be things of the past, and they'll be new ones. With everything going on with life, I doubt I'll be able to keep up with this new generation of superheroes, but I guess it'll be fun to ask kids a couple of years from now if they knew how powerful Iron Man was, or Spiderman. Or argue with them how Robert Downey Jr fits Tony Stark more than he does Dr Doom.
Anyways, as for Venom: The Last Dance, I recommend it to Marvel fans and movie lovers as it is the closing chapter of yet another amazing character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All that considered, I'll give it a 7/10.
