Venom: Let There Be Carnage Review - 5 Ups & 5 Downs

4. The Supporting Cast Is Completely Wasted

Much as the first film largely squandered its roster of talented supporting players including Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Melora Walters, and others, Let There Be Carnage also serves as little more than an easy paycheck for most of its cast.

Woody Harrelson, though trying his hardest to camp it up, deserves much better material than this, while Naomie Harris is nudged into forgettable sidekick territory as Shriek.

The brilliant Stephen Graham has a substantial supporting role as detective Patrick Mulligan, though the script never allows him to be anything more than an ultra-generic cop following Kasady and Brock's trails.

Michelle Williams didn't exactly seem particularly interested in the role of Eddie's ex Anne the first time around, and similarly here she largely sleepwalks her way through it, presumably thinking of all the "arthouse" films she can freely work on thanks to this hefty paycheck.

Everyone probably got nicely paid at least, but with so much talent onboard, it is rather obscene to give them such thankless roles.