As of Friday, October 1, Venom: Let There Be Carnage hit the big screen in the United States. Tom Hardy reprises his role as Eddie Brock, a failed investigative reporter who is still adjusting to sharing his body with Venom (also Hardy), an alien symbiote who relies on Brock’s physical body to survive. 

In this film, the unlikely duo go through the ups and downs of their “odd-couple” relationship while fending off deranged serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), who has paired with a symbiote of his own named Carnage. This film is rated PG-13.

I will be critiquing the film based on these categories: cast, plot, and design.

Cast: 4.5 Stars

Hardy has developed the character of Eddie Brock very tastefully. His quippy humor when paired against Venom is imaginative and appeals to a large audience’s funny bones. Harrelson’s performance as Kasady is exquisite. He does a great job portraying the pure villainy of the character while still making clear his pitfalls. The supporting cast also makes their presence known, but fall just short of taking the film to that top tier. Overall, outstanding performances across the board.

Plot: 2 Stars

Although the cast does the best with what they’ve been given, there’s only so much they can do. In my belief, they spend too much time developing Brock and Venom’s relationship at the beginning of the film. It would have been much more enjoyable to get to know Kasady and Carnage. Secondly, the “final battle” was underhyped, and lacked the consequences necessary to give it that bravado. 

Design: 3.5 stars

The computer-generated imagery (CGI) is nothing special, considering director Andy Serkis’s prowess in motion capture (a technology that takes video of physical people and animates over it in order to produce different character designs). The San Francisco cityscapes, although beautiful, don’t add anything to the story and are overused in the film industry.

Final Score: 3 stars

While there are some great moments, this film is only worth watching once. Most movies in the superhero genre are meant for the big screen, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage is no exception. In essence, make a one-time investment in an afternoon action flick.