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Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021) - Film review by KadmonVenom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie for Sony's Spider-Man Universe (2021)
image © Sony

Article updated: 2022.04.02

The Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage (2021) is a fantasy action film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.

Product: Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie for Sony's Spider-Man Universe (2021)

Original title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Series: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

Previous entries in the series: Venom (2018)

Setting: alternate fantasy Earth (Marvel Universe - Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

Product type: Film, Genre: fantasy action, Style: fantasy, contemporary fantasy, action, horror, super-human abilities

Release: 2021.09.14

Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them

Watched: very recent (2021.10), first time

Rating: Weak (2- out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Weak (2- out of 3 points)

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This is my review of Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, a fantasy action movie from 2021. It's about a serial killer getting his own symbiote, and the carnage that follows this. The Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film isn't very interesting, I only recommend it to avid fans of the genre.

If you'd like to be surprised by the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer beyond 1:50, because it starts to give away some of the twists.

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Review (spoiler-free) - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021)

I've seen the first Venom movie, and I wasn't impressed. When I've heard there will be a sequel, I was't surprised. When I've got a chance to watch the movie, I did it, because I was afraid there will be spoilers published online. I didn't watch the trailer for the same reason, to avoid spoilers. (Edit: Now I know I shouldn't have been afraid, because there was just no twist or surprise to be revealed by spoilers.)

The Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage movie is about a serial killer getting his own symbiote, and the carnage that follows this. Eddie, of course, tries to stop him.

The story is too long, and for the first 30 minutes, nothing of consequence happens. There is a slight character arc, but nothing too exciting. There were no major logical problems.

The first 30 minutes is boring. Even the action scenes were boring, as most of the time we already knew the outcome, and the action scenes weren't really interesting visually. I didn't find the comedic parts funny.

I wasn't impressed by the first Venom movie, but I think this was worse. One of my problems is that I didn't like this "comedy duo" take on the character of Venom. It was a dangerous monster in the comics, here, he is comic relief.

The cinematography is okay, we usually see what is happening. For me, it was not really interesting visually, as I've already seen car chases, and monsters bashing each other with tentacles, and they didn't do anything particularly interesting with these.

The characters are not particularly deep. The actors portray them fine.

The music (by Marco Beltrami) is okay.

Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage is a watchable fantasy action film, I think some fans of the genre might enjoy it.

My experience

I was able to sit through Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage (2021).

Rating: Weak (2- out of 3 points). Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage was boring and without tension.

Enjoyment: Weak (2- out of 3 points). Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage is watchable, but not really enjoyable.

Rewatchability: I'm not sure. I can imagine there are some people who actually like the fight scenes, making them watch the movie multiple times.

Chance of watching it again: Never again. Watching it once was bad enough.

Chance of watching a sequel: Probably. It's hard to get rid of bad habits.

Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021) - Film review by KadmonVenom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie for Sony's Spider-Man Universe (2021)
image © Sony

Will you enjoy this?

If you cannot miss any release related to the Marvel Universe, you'll watch this anyway.

If you like action movies, you might like Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage.

If you like action horror or action thriller movies (Aliens, Highlander, Predator), you might like the film, although there are not many action scenes or scary scenes in the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage movie.

If you like super-hero stories (Spider-Man, Mask), you might like Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, although the focus is not really on the heroics.

If you can get through the first half hour of the movie still interested, from then on it gets into gear, and you might enjoy this.

If you enjoyed the Venom (2018), you might be interested in this story.

Do you need to see the other films in the series to enjoy this?

There's enough explanation that you'll understand what's going on without seeing the first Venom film, or any of the Spider-Man movies.

Watching for plot points

Even if you are interested in super-hero stories or Marvel movies in particular, I don't think it's worth watching the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage movie for the plot points.

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Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021) - Film review by KadmonVenom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie for Sony's Spider-Man Universe (2021)
image © Sony

Review with spoilers - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021)

I didn't like the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage movie.

Cover

The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it doesn't spoil the movie.

The trailer

The trailer is not bad, although at the end, it starts to give away some twists that are supposed to be comical, and if you see them here, you won't find them funny in the movie.

If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it might spoil parts of the movie for you.

The trailer is misleading, it make it look like Venom eats a random criminal, but in the movie, he let's him go.

Promise of the first scene

There's a girl taken from a prison from her boyfriend. She learns that her boyfriend is getting execued. I assume that both will escape, and they will be together again.

Execution: Indeed, they reunite. I was surprised though, that the girl turned against her boyfriend, and even sacrificed herself to help in his defeat.

Plot summary / Synopsis

There's a girl, Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris), taken from her boyfriend, Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), to another facility (Ravencroft), because of her mutations are getting dangerous. She learns that Cletus is getting execued.

Cletus asks for Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), and tells him that if he publishes his message, he'll tell him his exclusive story as a criminal. While staying in his cell, Venom notices carvings on the wall, that helps them find the missing victims Cletus has hidden. Eddie gets famous due to this find.

Venom hungers for human brains, so they stop a bad guy, but in the end Venom spares his life.

Cletus sends a letter to Eddie, inviting him for his execution. Eddie complies, and meets him. Cletus taunts him, this makes Venom strike Cletus, but Cletus bites into Eddie, and tastes that his blood is not normal.

Eddie has a fight with Venom, and Venom decides to leave him.

During his execution, Cletus turns into Carnage, kills a lot of people and escapes. He makes a deal with the symbiote that he'll help him kill Venom, if Carnage helps him get his girlfriend back. They free her from Ravencroft. Frances uses her sound based powers, but it hurts Carnage, so he asks her to stop.

Eddie gets in police custody. She asks Anne (Michelle Williams), his ex-girlfriend to find Venom. She does, and Venom bonds with her. She frees Eddie from the custody.

Cletus wants to marry Frances, so he organises a wedding in a cathedral. He brings the policeman who shot at Frances as a gift. He also wanted to get Eddie and Venom there, but they couldn't find them, so they captured Anne. Eddie arrives, and start to fight with Cletus. Frances wants to help with her sonic abilities, but this enrages Carnage, who tries to kill her. This changes the mind of Frances, and by sacrificing herself, she helps to separate the symbiotes from their hosts. Eddie gets Venom back faster, and eats the Carnage symbiote, then Cletus.

Eddie brings Venom to a tropical island to escape from the police. Then he is teleported back to the city, into the mid-credit scene of Spider-Man 3: No Way Home, movie (2021).

The setting

Contemporary alternate fantasy Earth, set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe.

There are alien symbiotes who can bond with humans to create super-powered people.

Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021) - Film review by KadmonVenom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie for Sony's Spider-Man Universe (2021)
image © Sony

The symbiote

Venom is able to concentrate on multiple actions at once. He is probably able to sense the surroundings of his body even without the visible eyes.

The blood of Venom can infect a person with a newborn symbiote that carries the knowledge of the original symbiote?

Most people are incompatible with the symbiote, and they die of being used up.

The symbiote's diet involves chockolate and brains.

Carnage is also able to hack into super-secret government websites. Does this mean Venom could do that too?

The message of the story

I'm not sure there's one. "If you have a Venom symbiote, don't let others bite you"?

The structure of the story

The scenes of the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film are played in sequence, following the same storyline.

There's no single viewpoint character.

It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - a very long beginning, action, resolution.

Plot points of interests

The were a couple of new characters.

Timeline

The story happens after the events of Venom (2018).

Changes to characters

Anne: She seems totally okay with the fact that a human-eating alien is occupying Eddie Brock. Annie offers to bond with Venom to help Eddie.

Venom: He calls themselves Lethal Protectors. He leaves Eddie for a brief time, but comes back.

New characters

Carnage: Symbiote "son" of Venom. He can throw projectiles out of his body. Seems to be a better fighter than Venom is. He seems to be able to survive / avoid machine gun fire. Burning fire and loud sounds hurt him, similar to Venom. The bond between Cletus and Carnage is said to be weaker than the one between Eddie and Venom.

Cletus Kasady: A serial killer about to be executed. The boyfriend of Frances Barrison. He gets the Carnage symbiote.

Frances Barrison: A mutant with sonic powers. The girlfriend of Cletus Kasady.

Patrick Mulligan: Police detective. In the end, he seems to be infected with a symbiote.

Characters killed

Carnage: Eaten by Venom.

Cletus Kasady: Eaten by Venom.

Frances Barrison: Died during the battle between Venom and Carnage.

Fan-service

Scenes and elements from previous films:

Spider-Man (2002)

  • Daily Bugle newspaper is shown

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Things I liked

 

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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?

I have only seen the previous Venom movie from the writer (Kelly Marcel), and that didn't impress me. However, Venom: Let there be Carnage was worse.

I haven't seen any other works of the director (Andy Serkis).

How does it compare to the original source?

I didn't read the Carnage storyline, so I can't tell.

How does it compare to the other films in the series?

I think the first Venom film was better.

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Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021) - Film review by KadmonVenom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie for Sony's Spider-Man Universe (2021)
image © Sony

Analysis of the story - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021)

I didn't really like the story of Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage.

Problematic elements

Man in symbiote suit: In several scenes it looks like projectiles are flying through the body of Carnage, as it opens up to avoid the bullets. However, there's the solid body of Cletus Kasady inside.

No recurring antagonists: Due to the violent nature of these movies, they have to use new enemies for every story, because the current enemy will die, to retain the status quo, making the work of the writers both easier and harder to create a sequel.

No relationship: Cletus reveals that the only reason he asked for Eddie is that he wants Eddie to be his friend. However, this is not established neither in Venom or in this episode. I don't really get where this is coming from.

Unanswered questions

  • Does the creation of Carnage means that anybody who consumes the blood of Eddie Brock, while he is bonded with the Venom symbiote, will create a new symbiote?
  • How is Carnage able to hack into government databases?

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Possibilities of improvement

Re-edit the beginning 30 minutes, leave out the boring stuff, and get earlier to Carnage getting out.

How it could have been better?

Leave Eddie out of the most of the story, and focus on Cletus and Carnage. We should spend some time on getting to know Cletus, instead of spending time on Eddie or Frances. Instead of the sympathetic serial killer that's portrayed, he should be something to fear. Make the audience fear the possibility that he could get loose from the prison.

The story might even start with Cletus free, and committing a murder spree, when he gets caught, to be executed. That could establish him better. Then he gets the symbiote, and it should be a straight action horror story, as Carnage hunts people in the city.

I'm also unsure that we really need the girlfriend storyline.

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Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021) - Film review by KadmonVenom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie for Sony's Spider-Man Universe (2021)
image © Sony

Uses for the film - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021)

Plot

  • Set in a contemporary fantasy setting.
  • A dangerous man is about to be executed, when he becomes super-powered.

Scenes

  • The action scenes could be used to show fights involving shapeshifting creatures.

Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas

 

Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas

  • The playing area is the base of the police / soldiers. There's a prisoner is the middle of the base, in a closed cell. Suddenly, the prisoner manifests additional powers, enabling it to leave the cell, and combat the guards. The prisoner is more powerful than any of the guards, but the guards should have some way of slowing and defeating it. The prisoner wins if it leaves the playing area. The guards win if they kill or capture it.
    • Temporary powers: There's a time limit on the use of powers, if it runs out, the prisoner will become ordinary again.
  • The playing are is the base of the police / soldiers. There's a prisoner in one of the cells - the player of the guards has to choose one. The other player enters the base with an over-powered model, who wants to free this prisoner. The guards can set up barricades to slow the intruder. They can also move the prisoner. If the prisoner is freed by the intruder, they can also attack the prisoner. The intruder wins if it can find the prisoner, and they leave the playing area. The guards win if they can defeat the intruder, or move the prisoner out of the playing area. If they defeat the intruder, but the prisoner is killed, it's a draw.
  • One side has a special ally, a shapeshifting creature, who joined them to complete a specific objective. The creature can bond to any model giving them super-human strength and toughness. If the model is still defeated, the creature has to leave it. The creature can leap with a running movement, pass through closed doors, and can operate equipment like a regular human. However, it can only exist here for 2 turns if it's not bonded to a human host. If the creature bonds with an allied human, it dies when the creature leaves it. If the creature gets into contact with an enemy model, it's not bonded with it, but the model is stunned as it fights the creature. The creature is only affected by area effect weapons (fire, cold, explosion, acid). If the creature gets damaged, it can consume its current host for one point of healing. If it's heavily damaged, it might need to consume multiple hosts to get to maximum health.

Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)

Civilians: Human-sized (S3) modern (advanced) human female / male civilian. Find a model!

Venom: Large / Huge humanoid brute. Find a model!

Carnage: Large / Huge humanoid with tentacles. Find a model!

 

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Similar stories - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021)

Graphic novels

Maximum Carnage (1993): In a contemporary fantasy setting, a serial killer who gets super-powers through an alien symbiote (Carnage) escapes from the prison with his girlfriend, Shriek to wreak havok. In the end he is defeated by another man with an alien symbiote (Venom).

Movies

Shocker (1989): In a then contemporary fantasy setting, a serial killer who gets super-powers during his execution, and goes on a murder spree. He is defeated by his relative (son).

Venom (2018): In a contemporary fantasy setting, there's a man who gets super-powers through an alien symbiote, and tries to use it for evil deeds. Another man with an alien symbiote tries to stop him.

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Frequently asked questions - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021)

Is the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film based on a book or comics?

In a way, yes. Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage is clearly inspired by the Carnage story line of comics, and the story where Spider-Man gets rid of Venom in a cathedral, with the help of the bells.

Is there a post credit scene in Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage? Does Venom 2 have end credit scenes?

Yes, there's a mid-credit scene in Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage.

Will Tom Holland be in Venom: Let There Be Carnage?

Partially. Tom Holland, as Peter Parker, has a cameo in the mid-credit scene of Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film.

Will Carnage be in the second Venom movie?

Yes, Carnage is the main antagonist of the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage movie.

How does Carnage become Carnage in Venom 2?

Cletus Kasady takes a bite into Eddie Brock, and that infects him with an alien symbiote "son" of Venom.

Where can I see Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage? Where can I watch Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage online? Is Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage available on Netflix? Is Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage on Amazon?

As of 2021.10.17, Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage can be only watched in theatres.

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Resources - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021)

Official

Venom: Let There Be Carnage: Official article.

Information

IMDB: Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021): Database article.

WikiPedia: Venom: Let There Be Carnage: Database article.

Letterboxd: Venom: Let There Be Carnage 2021: Database article.

Rotten Tomatoes: Venom: Let There Be Carnage 2021: Database article.

Creation

: Concept art article.¤

Reviews with no spoilers - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film (2021)

: Review video about the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film with no spoilers.¤

Reviews with spoilers - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film (2021)

Sebastian Seidler: Venom (for KinoZeit / Movie Times): Let There Be Carnage (2021) (in German): Review article of the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage movie, with spoilers, in German.§

English version by Google Translate

Analysis - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage movie (2021)

Ryan George (for Screen Rant): Venom: Let There Be Carnage Pitch Meeting: Humorous analysis video of Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage.Ł

the video on YouTube

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Buying the product - Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, movie (2021)

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Have you seen the Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage film for Sony's Spider-Man Universe? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!

 

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