If you have been following this blog for a while you will know that our two lost recent movie reviews have been for experiences that have taken place in the extremely high-class Everyman Cinema Cardiff! Both reviews of Jungle Cruise starring Dwayne Johnson and Jack Whitehall (available at https://rhysreviews.com/2021/08/10/jungle-cruise-screening-experience-review/) and Free Guy staring the amazing Ryan Reynolds (available at https://rhysreviews.com/2021/08/22/free-guy-movie-review/) have been at the luxurious cinema where you sit on sofas with delicious food been served straight to your seat! My only concern about this cinema, however, was the price of tickets (which I didn’t have to pay due to being a BAFTA member) but I can this would be a probably for families! The cost as well as the expression “variety is the spice of life” came together to encourage me to go back to Cineworld to watch the newest Marvel movie ‘Venom: let there be carnage!’ Despite this, however, the cost of tickets to Cineworld have also increased slightly since I was there almost two years ago (which is about the same time us fans have been waiting for this film to be released!) The tickets have now gone up to £6 for standard tickets which is a fair bit more than when I went there before the global lockdowns. It cost £6 a visit to Cineworld or you can pay £10 a month to get free unlimited cinema, discounted food in selected restaurants etc. For the full list of benefits to a Cineworld membership you can find them all at https://www.cineworld.co.uk/static/en/uk/unlimited I am set to see a screening of the Rocky horror picture show in Cineworld on the 28th (review to be posted after the event) and due to being a member of this scheme, I have saved £9 off the ticket price which almost the cost for the month saved in just one visit!
Before all the current global lockdown situations I and my father went to see the first Venom movie starring Tom Hardy which had a unique combination of action and comedy which we both really enjoyed! Since then we have been eagerly waiting for the next film in the series to be realised which did felt never-ending due to everything being delayed due to the covid outbreak but the day has finally come where we are able to go and watch it! Before walking into the cinema to watch ‘Let there be Carnage’ I would strongly recommend that you want the first film as it builds on some of the key ideas that the first one explains. The second film follows the lead character Eddie Brock (played by the talented Tom Hardy) as he struggled to co-exist with the shape-shifting extraterrestrial Venom who have to put their difference aside to stop the reign of violence brought about by the deranged serial killer Cletus Kasady (played by the wonderful Woody Harrelson) who is also hosting an alien symbiote. The film plays on the comedy and action fusion that the first film popularised but I do think that the early moments of the show tried too hard to be funny. One particular moment that stands out to me is when Venom attends a rave/disco and accidentally deliver a message about pride and self-acceptance which just seemed like a forced way to get a laugh. This section of the film was purely there to advance the plot and introduce the new characters which I do think did come across very slow. I also think that the movie left out a key plot point where it was explained how Kasady’s life interest has the screeching ability that becomes a key power especially in the closing moments of the movie. This really should have been done in the beginning of the film as it becomes such a key skill throughout.
Tom Hardy managed to balance the absurdity of an alien possession with the comedy/action moments in the show. His natural grit and intensity work well with this type of film that contains an immense amount of violence and strong language. This makes it a film for a more mature audience and Tom Hardy fitted the genre and type of film flawlessly! For me, the highlight in this film was Woody Harrelson who played the incredibly sinister serial killer Cletus Kasady perfectly. We are introduced to the character in a way that reminds me of Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs as we see them locked in a prison cell. Woody managed to perform the violent and demonic moments in the show very believable with even the more unhinged moments in the show making sense to the audience. The creative team behind this film who worked on the special effects of this film also deserve immense amounts of praise as their incredibly work really helped the surreal moments in the show appear logical and believable , which was especially important for the characterif Cletus!
Overall, this was a film that took a while to get started but once the Carnage (there is a joke there!) starts it gets exciting! There a few moments that fell flat including the motivational speech that happened at a dire point in the end of the episode. I would rate this film 4 out of 5 stars and I know that this is definitely not the last film we are going to see from the Venom series!
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