Most of the film is pointless slapstick and poorly conceived humor, as Brock talks to himself and the symbiote slaps him around. There's no story or plot to speak of, and even the finale is stupid, and runs contrary to everything that came before it.
When I say this is one of the worst films I've ever seen, I mean it honestly.
It's not that bad. It's goofy fun, nowhere near one of the worst films ever.
sharei just got home from seeing it.
i thought it was a step down from the first one, but still mostly had the same goofy, dopey, openly stupid charm.
both films are getting an awful lot of mileage out of tom hardy's charisma.
if nothing else, i think these films prove he's our most valuable movie star.
i am not gonna be ululating over this film's greatness, but i had a reasonably good time watching it, and i'll never say no to that.
It’s such an extraordinarily silly and mind numbingly dumb movie.
It feels like it’s from the early 2000s where comic book movies weren’t taken very seriously and were just cobbled together cash grabs based on the popularity of the characters.
As I predicted this is not the Carnage movie I’ve been waiting for, far from it in fact. It has some funny moments but these movies can and should be so much more than just that.
I'm not relating to early-2000s comic book movies being cobbled-together cash-grabs that weren't taken seriously. 1998 had Blade, 2000 had X-Men, Blade 2, and Spiderman. X2 was 2003, Spiderman 2 was 2004, and the Punisher was around that time, too. These films were absolutely taken seriously by viewers and critics, and they were real pushes to establish superhero movies as franchises. They're the prototype of what became the MCU, as the popularity of these films made Marvel put more money and effort into developing their own in-house film production company.
But superhero movies were taking themselves seriously as far back as 1978's Superman and the Tim Burton Batman films. 2005, by the way, had Batman Begins, and maybe that's more "mid-2000s" than early, but still.
That's a lot of superheros, but if you truly meant "comic book movie", and not "superhero movie", V for Vendetta, Road to Perdition, A History of Violence, From Hell, American Splendour, and Ghost World were all early-2000s, too.
I should have been more specific about that, my bad. Yes there were plenty of great superhero movies from that time but also plenty of awful ones that were just lazy cash grabs.
Stuff like Daredevil, Elektra, Catwoman, Hulk, Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider.
I don’t think the Venom movies are quite as bad as those thanks to a committed performance from Tom Hardy, but this movie fully doubles down on the silliness of the first. It’s fully self aware it’s a trashy and bonkers B-Movie and gleefully embraces it.
That’s all good for those that like that but it’s just not what I wanted from this. I still admittedly had some laughs and fun though and it is an improvement on the first film, but as a huge Spider-Man fan it’s just another missed opportunity to have Spidey, Venom and Carnage share the screen together.
Oh well, off to go and read Maximum Carnage again.
john podhoretz, one of my favourite writers/thinkers/whatever, compared venom 2 to the odd couple in his review.
https://freebeacon.com/culture/review-venom-let-there-be-carnage/
" Let’s put it simply: If you don’t like creatures with long, wet tongues, you should avoid Venom: There Will Be Carnage. If you have a hankering to see The Odd Couple: Endgame, buy a ticket."
his review actually captures how i feel about the film. the silly love/hate relationship stuff is entertaining, elevated by some great tom hardy slapstick. the carnage and the cgi snot monster stuff is incomprehensible and bad, but it amused me.
That review is brilliant and spot on.
There’s half a decent movie here with the Venom stuff, but Carnage left a lot to be desired for me.
An R rating I think would have helped things. The scene where Carnage breaks out of San Quentin should have been longer, gorier and more terrifying. Also Carnage in general, there’s nothing particularly memorable about him in this film and they don’t do enough to differentiate him from the other symbiotes.
Also maybe another 20-30 minutes just to add a bit more action and maybe some more for the supporting cast to do.
It is worth a watch if you want a good laugh though.
But aren't there still a lot of lazy cash-grab movies? Suicide Squad (the first one), the Andrew Garfield Spiderman films, and even the Venom films (probably? I haven't seen this Carnage one yet) spring to mind. Heck, the MCU and DCU are basically cash-grabs, although not lazy.
I do see what you mean with the films you listed, but as long as there is cash there will be grabs.
I did really like the first Venom just for the interplay between Brock and Venom. I enjoyed some of the creative action scenes and some of the more horror-esque elements brought in. I did yearn for a tighter script, better character exploration of the main two anti-heroes, and more of that horror stuff. But I liked it.
Hopefully someday they'll bring Venom and Spidey to the big screen in a worthwhile way (loved Spiderman 1 and 2, but 3 was such a missed opportunity).
Yeah there's definitely still superhero cash grabs happening today. Biggest examples I can think of are Fantastic Four (2015) Suicide Squad which you mentioned and more recently Wonder Woman 1984.
If you liked the first Venom you should like this new one. It's getting such different responses from what I'm reading some people like the sequel more others prefer the first film. The Brock/Venom dynamic in both films is great though thanks to a committed performance from Tom Hardy.
Spider-Man 3 was a letdown. Sam Raimi said he didn't want to use Venom though but Sony forced Raimi to shoehorn the villain into the movie. The design of Venom in these new movies is a big improvement.
Hem… Ridiculously fun, Ridiculously fun film!
But whoa, totally didn’t see this coming from ya! (Right.)
Ok it’s not spectacular or anything, but just solid for what it is. Could’ve been a more consequential (and refreshing) film handled with some finesse perhaps, but as I expected it doubled down on everything that oddly made the first film work for many (the wild Eddie & Brock dynamic and overall wackiness/silliness). Yet, it was still an overall improvement over the first and that’s something many who don’t feel as negative as you agree with (was also deliciously vicious). And it may be trashy, but… in an endearing way! XD A terrible time you had with it though, lol. I mean, worst movie ever material? Hehe.
Anyways… welcome to the MCU, Eddie Brock and Venom! No, some say? We shall see, we shall see. And yea, as much fun as I’ve had with this Venom, under Marvel there’s no question he can be taken to a whole new level. Now I do think these Venom movies have had the potential to be so much more, albeit I have enjoyed them for what they are. I do get why many are concerned about mixing this stuff with the MCU, though. At any rate, naysayers on all sides.. get ready for what’s to come.
Yeah I don’t think it’s anywhere near the worst movie ever. It’s probably the worst superhero movie of the year but worst movie ever? Hmm, it’s definitely not as bad as Cats (2019) haha
That mid credit did get me excited. I think for Venom 3 they’ll have Venom and Spidey fight initially but then they’ll team up to fight the MCU version of Carnage (hopefully played by Woody Harrelson again as he was great)
That’s too bad. I had a great time, but I can see why people wouldn’t like it. Its not a great movie, but I really enjoyed it anyway.
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