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

Ups...

5. It's A Mild Improvement Over The First Film

On the balance of things, Let There Be Carnage is an incremental improvement upon the first film. Its script feels a little more keen to indulge its goofy side and even the limp Carnage plot isn't nearly as insufferably bland as Riot's (Riz Ahmed) from the original.

Serkis and returning writer Kelly Marcel evidently lean more into the elements that worked best the first time - which we'll get to in a moment - while keeping the runtime mercifully short, enough that this is at least a hard film to truly hate.

Anyone on the fence about the IP probably won't be won over by this entry, but clearly those who had a blast with the original Venom will have an even better time here.

It overall feels more confident, more lively, and more keen to let its freak flag fly, rather than being nervous about how general audiences would receive its more eccentric elements.