Beneath its inherent silliness, I've always felt that the Venom franchise was striving to build something deeper—a universe rich with lore, a wide array of characters, and perhaps even a genuine connection to the Spider-Man films. Yet, time and again, it seems to be held back by its own tendency toward over-the-top antics. Then again, maybe that very silliness is what keeps this trilogy grounded, preventing it from getting too lost in its mythic ambitions.

The first film hinted at bigger stories, introducing the oddball yet oddly compelling partnership between Eddie Brock and Venom while mixing in campy humor. Venom: Let There Be Carnage doubled down on the absurdity, dialing up the chaos and wildness. Now, under the direction of Kelly Marcel, who has been the franchise's screenwriter from the start, Venom: The Last Dance continues the series' tug-of-war between lore-heavy storytelling and sheer craziness. Marcel's background, ranging from the emotional beats of Saving Mr. Banks to the melodramatic flair of Fifty Shades of Grey, equips her to embrace both the movie's sincere moments and its shameless absurdity.

Venom: The Last Dance fittingly feels like a film with a split identity. On one side, it genuinely wants to take its characters and backstory seriously, delving into symbiote mythology and the emotional depth of Eddie and Venom's connection. On the other, it fully embraces its ridiculousness, indulging in pure, unrestrained chaos with a gleeful lack of concern for narrative coherence. This duality is the film's defining feature, and it's a perfect reflection of the franchise's charming weirdness.

Venom: The Last Dance opens with a classic emotional hook: Eddie and Venom swooping in to save a group of dogs from an underground dogfighting ring. It's a tried-and-true cinematic shortcut—if you want the audience to loathe a villain, have them harm a dog; if you want them to root for the heroes, show them saving some puppies. This scene may be an easy play for empathy, but it's undeniably effective. If Eddie and Venom's quirky banter doesn't immediately win you over, their canine rescue mission almost certainly will.

At its core, Venom: The Last Dance is about the deepening bond between Eddie and Venom. They're no longer just an odd couple thrown together by circumstance; they've evolved into true partners who would sacrifice themselves for each other. This evolution adds real stakes to their chaotic journey, grounding the film's over-the-top antics in genuine emotion. On the run from the law, Eddie and Venom are hiding out in Mexico, but their mission to clear Eddie's name has them embarking on a journey to New York to convince a judge to wipe Eddie's record.

While this setup sounds essentially like a buddy road trip movie, there are "allegedly" a lot of other things going on as well. Enter in an expository introduction of Knull, the god of the symbiotes, who has unleashed an army of xenophages to hunt down Eddie and Venom. The Knull vignettes borrow from grand fantasy motifs, with Knull's menacing presence evoking Lord of the Rings-esque villainy, complete with iconography that evokes the Eye of Sauron. Meanwhile, another storyline involves decommissioning Area 51, where Juno Temple's Dr. Teddy Payne runs secretive symbiote experiments. One such specimen under lock and key at Area 51 is Stephen Graham's Patrick Mulligan, host to the symbiote known as Toxin. Payne is also backed by Chiwetel Ejiofor's Orwell Taylor and the resources of the U.S. military as they are dispatched to round up more symbiotes. And lastly, we have Rhys Ifans, who plays a quirky father leading his family on a road trip to Area 51 as a last-gasp attempt at an alien sighting before the military installation is shut down for good.

I say that this film "allegedly" has all of these storylines happening because each subplot remains frustratingly underdeveloped, barely scratching the surface of its potential. The film assembles an incredibly talented lineup of character actors—Stephen Graham, Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Rhys Ifans—yet fails to give them the space or material to shine. None of their characters are fleshed out, and their motivations remain vague, at best. The bulk of this film, for better or worse, really is just Eddie and Venom on the run from a Xenophage.

Venom: The Last Dance shines when it goes all-in on its weirdness. Venom's brief symbiotic bonds with various animals are some of the funniest and most inventive scenes, leaving you wishing the film pushed those ideas even further. The end credits even tease more outrageous concepts that could have taken the film's playful chaos to new heights. The soundtrack adds to the playfulness with well-placed needle drops, including a favorite scene featuring Venom harmonizing to a David Bowie song.

And it's in this absurd playfulness that I found myself having a really great time. Yet, the movie sometimes takes its absurdity a step too far. The (titular, I suppose) "Last Dance" pushes the franchise's goofiness to its limit, sacrificing any narrative coherence. The lead-up to this sequence features a returning character magically appearing out of nowhere just when Eddie and Venom are at their lowest, having wasted their last dollars in a desperate slot machine spree. This surprise arrival conveniently fixes everything, granting them a seemingly endless supply of cash, safe lodging, and a presumably safe passage to New York. But Venom essentially instantaneously tosses this Deus Ex Machina moment aside and puts their lives and the universe's fate in jeopardy for....the opportunity to have a dance sequence with this character. The decision feels like a complete non-sequitur, as Venom's willingness to gamble everything for this outlandish spectacle is hilariously out of proportion to the stakes. One of the things that the film explicitly establishes in its attempt at lore and world-building is the danger of revealing the codex to this Xenophage. Yet, that's precisely what Venom decides to do in service of this "cinematic" moment. It's the kind of narrative leap that demands audiences either embrace the sheer craziness and go with the flow or be utterly confounded by what happens next.

But I think the film's wildest moment is actually in the film's final moments —a relationship montage set to Maroon 5's "Memories." Fittingly, it also has a strange dichotomous tone that, at times, I couldn't tell if it was being played as a joke or genuinely leaning into the sentimentality of this symbiotic bromance. And I think it's telling that the packed audience I saw this with couldn't decipher it either. Some people were laughing hysterically, while others were seemingly holding back tears. It's an oddly impressive achievement.

Ultimately, Venom: The Last Dance is undeniably silly and unexpectedly charming. If you can embrace the lack of narrative coherence and revel in its wacky tone, it's a surprisingly satisfying experience with a core of genuine emotion. The trilogy remains a unique entry in the superhero genre with offbeat humor, and this final chapter is a testament to the strange, captivating duality that has defined the series from the start.

— 3 / 5 ⭐