Venom: Let there be Carnage

Once a successful investigative journalist, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) has come to terms with the fact that the alien parasite Venom is now a part of him. With chocolate and chickens, he tries to satisfy his monstrous companion's huge appetite so that no more humans fall victim to him. This all goes relatively well until Eddie gets the opportunity to be the only reporter to talk to the brutal serial killer Cletus Kasady(Woody Harrelson). Eddie ends up back on the winning track due to the resulting revelations and Cletus ends up on death row. But by chance, Cletus escapes the lethal injection and transforms into the monstrous Carnage, against whom even Venom seems to be able to do little...

Although it was received less than favorably by critics, "Venom" turned out to be a huge hit with audiences in 2018. So a second part was quickly decided. Directing "Venom: Let there be Carnage" was Andy Serkis, the master of motion capture. In some films in which he was seen as a CGI character - most notably, of course, the "Lord of the Rings" films by Peter Jackson - have managed very well that characters and story were not pushed into the background by the effects. So there was hope then that he would succeed here in avoiding the weak points of the first installment and avoiding CGI overkill.

I admit: I found aspects of "Venom: Let there be Carnage" thoroughly entertaining. While the gag of Eddie and Venom arguing forever wears thin quickly, it can at least provide some nice smirk moments up to that point. At the same time, with Cletus Kasady seems to have been found, who is vastly superior to the villain from part 1. The backstory sounds interesting and holds a lot of potential, which, however, is never even close to being exploited in the short 97 minutes the film runs. So Kasady aka Carnage unfortunately remains quite one-dimensional, even if Woody Harrelson embodies him with a lot of fervor and dedication.

After an initial first act dominated primarily by humor, things get quite dark - but never really exciting. That's because, as in the first installment, the cluttered CGI effects dominate the action-heavy finale in particular. This has a certain show value, but also quickly feels tiring. Ultimately, this ensures that the film is quickly consumed, but just as quickly forgotten - with the possible exception of the end credit scene, which makes a potentially interesting connection to another Marvel character. What will be made of it remains to be seen. The only hope, really, is that in a possible third big screen appearance for Vnom, the character's potential will be better exploited. At least they really found the perfect leading man in Tom Hardy, which helps the film still get a "Worth Watching" from me in the end, despite clear weaknesses!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp