Venom: Let There Be Carnage

I liked it a lot. The first one was okay, but sort of ruffled my feathers because it was clearly done outside the wishes of Kevin Feige and the MCU. I like this one because the tag suggests Sony and Marvel are working well together again.

Frankly, I like this version of Venom. He's funny and lovable. And not exactly the type of guy who would psychologically torture Peter Parker. And Eddie Brock is a nice guy too. What the end suggested to me is that they were transported to the MCU and either Spider-Man: No Way Home will have a subplot about them having to get back or Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness will. And I'm aware as I've finally seen this film, the latest Spider-Man has actually hit theaters. I'm waiting for the Blu-Ray on that one (I don't go to the theater anymore) so I could be wrong and you can think I'm a dope.

What I like about that solution of alternate universeness is that it's a great way to tie the franchises together, and yet keep Kevin Feige's potential vision of how Venom should be still how Feige would want him to be. Do I think there's actually a chance Feige will get to do his version of Venom versus Peter? I think it's unlikely. But I like this film because it made it possible. Again, this speaks to Marvel and Sony having a good working relationship that they were able to come to this sort of agreement.

Carnage was a pretty good villain, and Woody Harrelson was good in the role (although I really have a hard time feeling any level of sympathy for him that the movie wants me to). I feel like the 1996 prologue of kid Cassidy is the wrong timeframe, unless they are saying the character is way younger than Harrelson was in 1996. In 1996 , Harrelson wasn't a teenager. Cheers had actually been off the air for a couple of years, and he was actually balding at that point. I get that Harrelson looks younger than he is, but the 1996 hit me wrong anyways.

I'm grateful Marvel and Sony have figured out a way to connect their franchises explicitly without compromising Feige's vision. I liked the movie to begin with, but that's really rewarding to me as a longtime fan of the MCU. ****1/2.

Outtakes & Bloopers:

Woody Harrelson makes some funny faces but there's not too many laughs here. **.

Deleted Scenes:

A couple of scenes suggest an abandoned subplot of Cletus, Shriek, and Carnage planning to destroy the entire human race and repopulating it with Carnage's spawn (as well as potential love children between Cassidy and Shriek.). But truly, it's the extended beach end scene which is truly great. Overall: ****.

Alternate Mugging:

They toned this idea down for the movie. Probably a wise choice. I cringed a little. **1/2.

Break Up Extended:

There's nothing wrong with this scene, but there's also no reason why it couldn't be pared down by a few seconds. That's probably why it was. ***.

St. Estes Flashback:

Ooh, that was creepy. **1/2.

Unholy Trinity Extended:

This is a pretty big deal and a huge cut. And as near I can figure it, it's cut because the plot thread they start here doesn't go anywhere. To be fair to fiction that doesn't go anywhere, setting up a false trial is a perfectly fine move for fiction. I'm guessing Serkis decided the audience might feel disappointed and cheated instead. He was probably right. *1/2.

Burning St. Este Alternate:

This Unholy Trinity plot is briefly touched upon again here... for a grand total of 38 seconds. I'm starting to see why they cut this. 1/2.

Beach Extended Ending:

That was beyond adorable. **.

Select Scene Previs:

Some storyboards / CGI animatics and a brief featurette about the making of the animated sequence. Overall: *.

Ravencroft Breakout:

Cool. *.

San Quentin Carnage:

Oog, Violent. .

Show & Tell:

The animated sequence in the film was quite impressive. ****1/2.