The Simpsons‘ iconic “ MENDOOZZZZAAAAAA!!!” scene is an all-time classic pop culture moment because it’s played totally seriously despite being intentionally funny. It’s a hilarious, over-the-top parody of action movies, but the actors within the McBain film perform the scene totally straight. That is the exact—the exact—energy of Venom: The Last Dance. It’s a well-acted, fun, entertaining film that never lets things like logic or taste get in the way of a good time. Characters do and say inexplicable things with complete sincerity because, fortunately, they are not trying to be in on the joke. That only makes the whole very funny movie even funnier. And except for a flat CGI-fest finale, Venom: The Last Dance is exactly what fans of the first two will want from a farewell to the Symbrock. That’s also exactly why detractors of the first two won’t like it.
Venom: The Last Dance is an alien-invasion combined with a buddy road trip. The symbiotes’ powerful, evil creator, Knull, has realized there’s a way out of the prison his creations put him in. He needs a newly created codex contained within Venom and Eddie Brock to escape. To get it, Knull sends his other, even bigger, way-too-powerful monsters to track it down.
What follows is an action-comedy with some heart sprinkled in, but not quite enough. The few quiet moments of Symbrock love and reflection we get are very effective. The lack of them becomes a real problem at the end when Eddie and Venom are faced with the possible end of their partnership. When that inevitable moment arrives it feels like the film forgot to include two or three necessary scenes along the way. The movie’s big moment still mostly works because of the history established between the two over the course of the previous movies, but it could have been even better.
That’s true of the entire third act, which actually delivers a very cool moment. (You don’t want it spoiled even though you’ll likely see it coming.) The shocking issue is that this very cool sequence completely falls apart during a tedious battle scene that’s too dark to enjoy. It’s somehow boring and easily the worst part of the film when it should be one of the best. If not for a consistent barrage of amazing one-liners (the film’s calling card) the scene would be a total dud. Things only improve when The Last Dance stops worrying about alien fights and focuses on Eddie and Venom.
A tedious third act is not nearly enough to sink the film, though. The first two acts are wonderfully absurd. Venom: The Last Dance is full of characters talking with the enthusiasm of Scoey telling McBain about his boat “The Live-4-Ever” right up until a hitman kills him. (In this case, that’s when the fate of the universe is at stake.) People in the movie are free from the burdens of reason or basic thinking no matter the situation. They do what the film needs them to do so the audience can have fun.
The Last Dance and its silly script pulls off its absurd approach because stars Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor never wink at the camera in any way. They definitely know what kind of film they’re in, but they never confirm they know. They’re playing everything seriously even while being absurd people who do things no rational person would.
The same is true of Rhys Ifans who plays a hippie alien hunter dragging his family to Area 51. Like the whole cast, he is all in on the role and he’s a delight every time he’s on screen. Especially because he’s essentially out of his mind without realizing it. None of the characters in this movie, whether super serious soldiers and scientists or haggard travelers, ever do anything you’d call “smart,” but they don’t know that. That approach of intentionally silly without acknowledging the over-the-top ridiculousness is why Venom: The Last Dance is almost a pure comedy. A very funny comedy.
One star who is never funny, though, is returning franchise alum Stephen Graham. He’s so dark and so good I fear most people are going to overlook his performance because he’s so believable. He’s the flipside to the same Tom Hardy coin. Yet again, Hardy delivers an incredible performance that is so natural and convincing it’s easy to forget there’s not actually a black goo alien inside of him.
Specifically, he has the funniest black goo alien to ever appear on screen inside of him. Venom absolutely kills in this movie, both when biting heads and when delivering the funniest lines. I loved him before this film, but I love him even more after it. He remains the best in The Last Dance, as the Venom series closes out one of the most consistent movie franchises ever made. All three set out to do the same thing—give viewers a fun night at the movies—and they all deliver.
If you liked the first two Venom films you’ll like The Last Dance. If you didn’t, then you won’t like this one, either. But I don’t understand how someone could dislike a real-life McBain movie starring a symbiote and better actors.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist who would get along famously with Venom. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
