Viewers waited three years for the arrival of Venom: The Last Dance, the supposed final film for Marvel and Sony's intergalactic odd coupling comprised of the now-hunted investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy, again frying his vocal cords to deliver Brock's semi-anxious speech) and Venom (Hardy again, with his voice pitched down half a dozen octaves), a vivacious alien symbiote.
The duo's first two films managed to separate themselves from the new superhero tradition set by their cousins in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, taking risks with Hardy's bizarre performances and the absurdity of an alien that just wants to eat people and have a good time. But after being transported into that genre-defining universe, just to learn about Thanos and everything else Marvel pre-2019, Brock and his "buddy" are snapped back to their own reality. Similar to its lead character, Venom: The Last Dance is infected by a voracious, excessive entity that wants to have its cake and eat it too.
For The Last Dance, Venom dons the genericism and fan-servicing behaviour of Marvel Studio President Kevin Feige's empire. It wastes no time in establishing its new, bigger bad guy: Knull (Andy Serkis, who did not return to direct the threequel after Let There Be Carnage). A villain who solely dumps exposition and dispatches minions from his throne/prison set by his subordinates some time ago — framed in a way that uncannily resembles a World of Warcraft cutscene. Knull's presence attempts to rekindle the domineering presence of Josh Brolin's Thanos in his first moments within the MCU.
In some cosmic coincidence, Venom holds the codex that is key to Knull's release, allowing him the freedom to enslave the universe with his army of xenophages, bug-like aliens that devour any living thing before ejecting it out the back of their heads like sawdust from a woodchipper. For the first time, Venom is operating on a cosmic scale that manifests solely on earth. Strike one.
But as Brock and Venom attempt to hide from their retrospective threats, stalked by CCTV and xenophage POVs that share the same slightly grainy black-and-white filter, they're met with a forgettable cast of one-dimensional characters consisting of Spider-Man and Ted Lasso alums who are able to turn on that semi-ironic snark when they're not openly questioning if what they just witnessed is legit. Its one of the many MCU-isms that Venom seemed to pick up during his brief trip to Earth-616. Strike two.
Peggy Lu, infinitely charismatic as convenience store owner Mrs. Chen, rescues Venom from the supposed seriousness of his situation in another star turn. But not even she can save The Last Dance from its manufactured intensity, which includes a very mid dance remix of a cover version of ABBA's "Dancing Queen." And that's not the only cover in The Last Dance, with a karaoke scene that believes that comedy can be achieved through ADR. Fact is, Deadpool already figured out this formula nearly 10 years ago, where a beloved, borderline iconic, character engaging in such inoffensive silliness when not tearing the heads off of his enemies is apparently reason enough to laugh. Strike three.
Marvel fans may gasp and cheer at the Easter eggs and familiar beats that have become commonplace in the decade-plus of standard superhero fare, while others may tolerate and perhaps enjoy the surprisingly dulled outing from Tom Hardy's one-man freak show.
It's technically the last dance and someone dies, but there's enough setup for a Thanos-level threat to enable multiple sequels and spinoffs within Sony's Spider-Man-less Spider-Verse. In the Marvel kingdom and its boardrooms, death is not the end. Just ask Robert Downey Jr.