VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE
****
Director: Andy Serkis
Screenwriter: Kelly Marcel, based on a story by Marcel and Tom Hardy. From a Marvel character created by Todd McFarlane and David Michelinie.
Principal cast:
Tom Hardy
Woody Harrelson
Michelle Williams
Naomie Harris
Stephen Graham
Reid Scott
Country: UK/USA/Canada
Classification: M
Runtime: 97 mins.
Australian release date: 25 November 2021.
Warden: Cletus Kasady, you have been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by the state of California. May your passing bring closure to the victim's families, and may you find peace in the hereafter.
Cletus Kasady: Soon come chaos. Chaos soon come.
Warden: Are those your final words?
Cletus Kasady: Enjoy the show.
And enjoy it you will, at least if you were a fan of the original Venom in 2018. That film was not well reviewed by critics but the punters loved it and it became the seventh highest-grossing movie of the year. Now the follow-up, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, will probably achieve similar results. Tom Hardy reprises his dual role as the human Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote Venom who lives inside him, but this time he’s joined by another scenery-chewer, Woody Harrelson, who plays serial killer Cletus Kasady, a character introduced as ‘Red’ in the closing credits of Venom. Other returning actors are Michelle Williams as Brock’s ex, Anne, and Reid Scott as her boyfriend Dan; they are joined by new cast members Naomie Harris and Stephen Graham. It’s quite a troupe.
The movie starts in California in 1996 at St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children, where we see Kasady watch on powerlessly as his girlfriend Frances Barrison (Harris), whose alter-ego ‘Shriek’ has the ability to manipulate sound (her scream is deadly), is taken away to a secure facility. Cut to San Francisco in the present day and Detective Mulligan (Graham) approaches journalist Brock and asks him to talk to Kasady, who’s on death row in San Quentin Prison and refusing to speak to anyone other than Brock. The condemned killer asks Brock to attend his execution but, before Kasady is given the lethal injection, he bites Brock/Venom and becomes the host for Carnage, a symbiotic offshoot of Venom. And “Chaos soon come,” oh yes, indeed it does.
There’s a lot of witty dialogue in Kelly Marcel’s script, especially when Brock and Venom are exchanging barbs. Theirs is a classic love/hate relationship rather than a mutually agreeable symbiosis. As Brock reminds Venom, referencing Pinocchio, “I am a real boy and you’re just an amoeba!” There’s much fun to be had, too, in the back-and-forth banter between Brock and Kasady - you suspect that Hardy and Harrelson (sounds like a firm of lawyers) were cracking up when they were filming Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The always excellent Stephen Graham is terrific as, unusually, a police detective; more often than not he’s a gangster or a thug but this time he’s on the side of the angels. It’s just a shame that he didn’t have a bit more to do. Naomie Harris, currently starring as Miss Moneypenny in No Time to Die, isn’t given a lot to do either but she sure can scream.
Andy Serkis, directing only his third film since his 2017 debut effort Breathe, was selected by the producers because of his familiarity shooting in front of a green screen and utilising motion-capture technology. His previous two movies, The Ruins of Empires and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, used both techniques to great effect plus, of course, as an actor he has a lot of experience playing non-human roles. Judging by what’s on screen in Let There Be Carnage, it looks like he’s carved out a whole new career for himself. Expect to see more of Venom in the future.
Screenwriter: Kelly Marcel, based on a story by Marcel and Tom Hardy. From a Marvel character created by Todd McFarlane and David Michelinie.
Principal cast:
Tom Hardy
Woody Harrelson
Michelle Williams
Naomie Harris
Stephen Graham
Reid Scott
Country: UK/USA/Canada
Classification: M
Runtime: 97 mins.
Australian release date: 25 November 2021.
Warden: Cletus Kasady, you have been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by the state of California. May your passing bring closure to the victim's families, and may you find peace in the hereafter.
Cletus Kasady: Soon come chaos. Chaos soon come.
Warden: Are those your final words?
Cletus Kasady: Enjoy the show.
And enjoy it you will, at least if you were a fan of the original Venom in 2018. That film was not well reviewed by critics but the punters loved it and it became the seventh highest-grossing movie of the year. Now the follow-up, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, will probably achieve similar results. Tom Hardy reprises his dual role as the human Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote Venom who lives inside him, but this time he’s joined by another scenery-chewer, Woody Harrelson, who plays serial killer Cletus Kasady, a character introduced as ‘Red’ in the closing credits of Venom. Other returning actors are Michelle Williams as Brock’s ex, Anne, and Reid Scott as her boyfriend Dan; they are joined by new cast members Naomie Harris and Stephen Graham. It’s quite a troupe.
The movie starts in California in 1996 at St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children, where we see Kasady watch on powerlessly as his girlfriend Frances Barrison (Harris), whose alter-ego ‘Shriek’ has the ability to manipulate sound (her scream is deadly), is taken away to a secure facility. Cut to San Francisco in the present day and Detective Mulligan (Graham) approaches journalist Brock and asks him to talk to Kasady, who’s on death row in San Quentin Prison and refusing to speak to anyone other than Brock. The condemned killer asks Brock to attend his execution but, before Kasady is given the lethal injection, he bites Brock/Venom and becomes the host for Carnage, a symbiotic offshoot of Venom. And “Chaos soon come,” oh yes, indeed it does.
There’s a lot of witty dialogue in Kelly Marcel’s script, especially when Brock and Venom are exchanging barbs. Theirs is a classic love/hate relationship rather than a mutually agreeable symbiosis. As Brock reminds Venom, referencing Pinocchio, “I am a real boy and you’re just an amoeba!” There’s much fun to be had, too, in the back-and-forth banter between Brock and Kasady - you suspect that Hardy and Harrelson (sounds like a firm of lawyers) were cracking up when they were filming Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The always excellent Stephen Graham is terrific as, unusually, a police detective; more often than not he’s a gangster or a thug but this time he’s on the side of the angels. It’s just a shame that he didn’t have a bit more to do. Naomie Harris, currently starring as Miss Moneypenny in No Time to Die, isn’t given a lot to do either but she sure can scream.
Andy Serkis, directing only his third film since his 2017 debut effort Breathe, was selected by the producers because of his familiarity shooting in front of a green screen and utilising motion-capture technology. His previous two movies, The Ruins of Empires and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, used both techniques to great effect plus, of course, as an actor he has a lot of experience playing non-human roles. Judging by what’s on screen in Let There Be Carnage, it looks like he’s carved out a whole new career for himself. Expect to see more of Venom in the future.
