by Rayne McKinney

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a 2021 film that hit theaters on October 1. Eddie Brock/Venom is played by actor Tom Hardy for the second time and the new villain Cletus/Carnage is played by Woody Harrelson with Naomi Harris as Shriek.

In the story, Venom and the symbiote host Eddie Brock accidentally get Cletus Cassidy infected with the symbiote and he becomes Carnage. Cletus is driven insane from losing the only woman he ever loved. He gets locked away, along with his mutant wife Shriek and then he is later put on death row by Eddie Brock himself. He is sentenced to death until they broke out and wreak havoc on New York City and fights the other symbiote Venom.

It’s a story of love and revenge with all different examples like the break up between Eddie and his ex-girlfriend, the lost-then-found love of Shriek and Cletus, and the bromance between Eddie and Venom. Revenge emerges as hate from Carnage to Venom, Cletus to Brock, and Shriek to the officer that shot her in the eye so many years before.

Reviewer Christy Lemire says it’s a “mismatched-buddy relationship.” Venom and Brock are like an old married couple. Venom leaves Brock in the film at one point because he was so tired of the stress. Critics are saying Venom: Let There Be Carnage is zippy and breezy, and I totally agree. The movie is only just 97 minutes long. It is short and gives good enough detail to where I could still keep up. How Brock struggles with of fighting his own demon both literally and figuratively is interesting.

I personally think that the movie is okay (7.5/10). It’s not a super bad, get your money back deal but not really outstanding or breathtaking either. It had a lot of cheesy one liners. It was predictable and was poorly written. They should have put more emphasis and went into more depth with the Venom from the comics instead of making a brand-new “Hollywood Venom.”