Honestly, the first thing you notice about Venom Let There Be Carnage isn’t the CGI or the symbiote fights. It’s the sheer, unadulterated chaos of it all. It’s a movie that knows exactly what it is—a 97-minute sugar crash of a buddy comedy—and it refuses to apologize for it. Most superhero sequels try to go bigger, darker, and more "cinematic." Andy Serkis, who stepped into the director's chair for this one, decided to go weirder instead.
Tom Hardy is back as Eddie Brock, and at this point, the line between actor and character has basically vanished. He’s sweaty. He’s twitchy. He’s arguing with a voice in his head that wants to eat people but settles for chocolate and tater tots. It’s a bizarre domestic drama that just happens to involve alien parasites.
The Carnage of it All: Why Cletus Kasady Worked
Let's talk about Woody Harrelson. When we saw that Spirit Halloween wig in the post-credits scene of the first movie, everyone was worried. Thankfully, they fixed the hair, but they kept the crazy. Cletus Kasady is a dark mirror to Eddie. While Eddie is struggling to keep his "lethal protector" on a leash, Cletus embraces the red symbiote with open arms.
The transformation scene in the prison is arguably the best part of the movie. It’s visceral. It’s loud. When Carnage finally emerges, he doesn’t just look like a red Venom; he’s a spindly, multi-armed nightmare that moves with a terrifying fluidity. Serkis used his motion-capture expertise to make Carnage feel fundamentally different from Venom. Venom is a tank; Carnage is a blender.
The Lore vs. The Screen
If you grew up reading the Maximum Carnage arc in the 90s, you know that Cletus Kasady is a special kind of evil. The movie softens him a bit by giving him a tragic love story with Frances Barrison, aka Shriek, played by Naomie Harris. It’s a bit of a departure from the comics where Cletus is usually just a pure agent of nihilism. Here, he wants a family. He wants a wedding. He wants a connection.
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It’s an interesting choice. It makes the final showdown at the cathedral feel more like a disastrous double date than a cosmic battle for the fate of San Francisco. Some fans hated that. They wanted the Rated-R bloodbath that Carnage usually brings. But Sony stayed firm on the PG-13 rating, which meant we got creative violence—lots of shadows and fast cuts—rather than the "meat" of the comic book panels.
Venom Let There Be Carnage and the Bromance Factor
You can't discuss Venom Let There Be Carnage without acknowledging that it is, at its core, a romantic comedy. The "breakup" scene where Venom leaves Eddie’s body and goes on a solo night out at a rave is one of the strangest things put to film in a major franchise. Venom is wearing glow-stick necklaces. He’s giving a speech about acceptance.
It's weird. It's campy. It's exactly what Tom Hardy wanted.
Hardy has a "Story By" credit on this film for a reason. He leaned into the slapstick. There’s a sequence in Eddie’s apartment where they’re trying to cook breakfast that feels more like The Odd Couple than The Avengers. This dynamic is what saved the movie from being a generic retread. Without the chemistry between Eddie and Venom (both voiced/played by Hardy), the plot would be paper-thin.
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The stakes are personal. Eddie is trying to get his career back. Venom is bored. They’re basically a married couple in a mid-life crisis. When they finally reunite before the big fight, it’s treated with the emotional weight of a grand reconciliation.
The Technical Side: Behind the Symbiote
Visually, the movie is a massive step up from the 2018 original. The lighting is more consistent. The textures on the symbiotes look less like "wet plastic" and more like living muscle. Robert Richardson, the cinematographer who usually works with people like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, shot this. That’s why, despite the CGI mayhem, it looks like a real movie with depth and shadow.
But the pacing is breathless. It moves so fast you don't have time to ask questions like "Wait, how did Cletus get those postcards?" or "Why is the police response time so slow in this city?" It just goes.
- Eddie meets Cletus.
- Cletus bites Eddie (obtaining the symbiote piece).
- Carnage is born.
- Prison break.
- The Cathedral climax.
That’s the whole movie. It’s lean. In an era where every Marvel or DC movie is pushing three hours, there’s something refreshing about a film that gets in, wrecks the place, and leaves in under a hundred minutes.
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What Most People Missed: That Post-Credits Scene
We have to talk about the ending. Not the cathedral fight—though the bell tower stuff was a nice nod to the classic Spider-Man/Venom weakness to sound—but the scene in the hotel room.
When Venom Let There Be Carnage hit theaters, that scene caused literal screaming in the audience. Seeing Eddie Brock transported into a universe where he sees Tom Holland’s Spider-Man on the news was a massive turning point. It signaled that the "Sony Spider-Man Universe" wasn't just a side project; it was officially colliding with the MCU.
Even though the payoff in Spider-Man: No Way Home was relatively brief, the moment itself changed the stakes for the character. It proved that Venom is a heavy hitter. He's not just a standalone curiosity anymore.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans and Collectors
If you're looking to dive deeper into this specific era of Venom, there are a few things worth doing beyond just rewatching the movie on Netflix or Disney+.
- Check out the "Venom" (2018) comic run by Donny Cates. While the movie is campy, the modern comics went in a "cosmic horror" direction that explains much more about where the symbiotes come from (the King in Black).
- Look for the "Carnage" figures from Mondo or Hot Toys. The detail on the movie-accurate Carnage figures is insane, specifically how they handled the "tendrils" that replace his hands.
- Watch the "behind-the-scenes" features on the physical 4K release. Specifically, look for the segments on Andy Serkis’s direction. Seeing how they used performance capture for the symbiote's facial expressions explains why the characters feel so much more alive than the first film.
- Track the "Silk" and "Spider-Woman" development news. Sony is expanding this universe rapidly, and the threads started in Let There Be Carnage regarding the "hive mind" of the symbiotes are expected to play a role in future crossovers.
Venom Let There Be Carnage isn't trying to win an Oscar. It’s trying to be a chaotic, loud, and strangely touching story about a man and his alien best friend. It’s a movie that rewards you for turning your brain off and just enjoying the ride. Whether you love the camp or miss the grit, you can't deny that it has a personality—and in the world of big-budget superhero filmmaking, that’s actually pretty rare.