Venom Let There Be Carnage has earned a score of 58 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, which amounts to just average. This is the score after 91 critical reviews.
The first Venom: Let There Be Carnage reviews have begun to trickle in. Thus far, after 91 critical reviews, the Tom Hardy-starrer sequel has earned a score of 58 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, which amounts to just average.
This would not worry the studio Sony too much, however, as the first Venom movie could score only 30 per cent on the review aggregation site, and became a huge global success anyway, grossing $856 million on a budget of around $116 million.
The critical consensus reads, “A sequel aimed squarely at fans of the original’s odd couple chemistry, Venom: Let There Be Carnage eagerly embraces the franchise’s sillier side.”
The movie, directed by Andy Serkis and written by Kelly Marcel based on a story by Marcel and Hardy, continues the story of investigative reporter Eddie Brock. In the first movie, Eddie was infected by a sentient alien parasite called Venom that gave him superhuman powers, but also inhabits his body like an unwelcome guest.
Woody Harrelson plays the primary antagonist Cletus Kassidy or Carnage, a serial killer who is infected with another symbiote (Carnage). Harrelson had briefly appeared in the first movie’s mid-credits scene.
Michelle Williams and Reid Scott return from the original movie. Naomie Harris and Stephen Graham also star.
Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern wrote, “To its perverse credit, Venom 2, as it’s being called, manipulates its audience with all the tentacles it can deploy, most of them cheerfully ridiculous.”
Screen International’s Tim Grierson wrote, “Andy Serkis keeps the rambunctious proceedings relatively taut, making room for operatic action and a sneaky emotional undercurrent that pokes through the broad comedy and comic-book grandeur.”
New York Times’ Amy Nicholson said in her review, “This is, in essence, a slapstick blood bath about two threesomes both in desperate need of throuples therapy.”
Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson was more negative. He wrote, “It is mostly noisy and flimsy and without purpose, a hasty response to the original’s unexpected success and little else. Naturally a third film is advertised at the end.”
Venom Let There Be Carnage will release on October 14 in India except Maharashtra, where it will hit theatres on October 22.
