Movie review: ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ is a fitting send off

You’re either on Venom’s wavelength or you’re not. If you are, you’re not alone, because as it turns out, a lot of folks are. The wildly successful Marvel series from Sony comprises a triptych of strangely appealing comic book movies featuring Tom Hardy’s take on journalist Eddie Brock and his sassy symbiote sidekick, Venom (whom Hardy also voices). The third installment, “Venom: The Last Dance,” rounds out the trio of films, which are both straight-faced and irreverent, creating a campy tone all their own, distinct from the more self-serious superheroes, or the sarcastically self-referential ones.

Much of that unique humor has to do with star Hardy’s performance as both Venom and Eddie, and through his writing contributions (he has a story by credit on both “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” and “Venom: The Last Dance”), and close collaboration with longtime friend Kelly Marcel, who wrote all three films and makes her directorial debut with “The Last Dance,” which announces itself with that title as Venom’s potential last twirl on the floor.

The main appeal of these films has always been the relationship between Eddie and Venom, his alien pal who frequently pops out to say hello and crack wise, and who can take over Eddie’s body with his tar-like mass and giant teeth for various feats of strength and derring-do. The irascible Venom loves animals, eating brains and letting the music move him (in the second installment, they hit up a rave; in this one, it’s a choreographed disco dance in a Vegas penthouse).

That remains the focus in “The Last Dance,” wherein Eddie and Venom try to make it from Mexico to New York City, and end up stranded in Area 51, as aliens are wont to do. Through no small amount of exposition, we learn that the pair have become a codex, or key, to unlock some sort of galactic prison where a stringy-haired dark lord of sorts has been locked up by his symbiote children. He’s now dispatched an army of stabby crablike aliens through portals to retrieve the Eddie-Venom codex and free himself.

The pair turn into a tracking device when Venom fully manifests, and the codex can only be destroyed if one of them dies, and so the story is essentially a chase movie through the American Southwest. With a Gen. Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his special forces also in pursuit, and an alien-sympathetic scientist Dr. Payne (Juno Temple) attempting to salvage her specimens, mayhem ensues in and around Area 51, which is about to be decommissioned in three days.

The desert setting and chomping alien monsters gives “The Last Dance” a whiff of “Starship Troopers,” a soupcon of “Tremors,” nodding to those self-consciously campy B-movie creature features of yore. This “Last Dance” may be shaggy, silly and even a little bit stupid, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, especially when it’s winking so hard at its own genre-play.

There is a sense of randomness to this journey, but Hardy’s oddball charm and a great soundtrack go a long way to smooth the cracks and bumps on the road, which is also an ensemble comedy as Eddie encounters different folks, including an alien-obsessed dad (Rhys Ifans) taking his family on a pilgrimage to Area 51 in their hippie-fied Volkswagen bus, and his old pal Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu), running the slot machines in Vegas. These supporting actors have the important task of playing the straight man to Venom’s clown. Since Michelle Williams in the first film, it’s imperative that those around Venom understand the assignment, but allow him to shine, and this cast never cracks.

Because it’s not the supporting characters, stories, set pieces or special effects that make “Venom” what it is, but rather the chemistry that Hardy has – with himself – as this dual, dueling character(s). Perhaps it’s his friendship with Marcel that makes these movies work, because you genuinely believe in the connection between Eddie and Venom; that they care about each other as much as they squabble, and this is thrown into stark relief in “The Last Dance,” which is, unfortunately, perhaps the last time these two will tango. Though the concept itself is running out of gas, and it would be nice to free Hardy to do other things, it’s a fitting send off for the cheeky alien with the thousand-watt grin.