Venom 3 Review: Tom Hardy’s Dual Performance Fails to Save ‘Venom: The Last Dance’

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Tom Hardy has once again stepped into the dual role of Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote counterpart, Venom, for the third time in Venom: The Last Dance. In a Marvel universe packed with heroes hiding behind alter egos, Hardy’s Eddie doesn’t exactly transform into something else—he shares his body with the ink-black, tentacle-wielding symbiote that not only takes control when necessary but constantly engages Eddie in amusing internal dialogues.

This dynamic, central to the Venom movies, should feel unique and exciting, but somehow, Venom: The Last Dance fails to make it work, as the film stumbles under a heap of unoriginal CGI action and an overly familiar save-the-world plot.

Hardy’s performance, though, remains the heart of the movie. His portrayal of Eddie, a somewhat disheveled investigative journalist with a chatty alien inside him, feels fresh in a world of spandex-clad superheroes. Venom, voiced by Hardy himself, is an amusing and bizarre presence, constantly urging Eddie to fight, engage his core, or even commenting randomly with phrases like “Tequila!” or “Nice horsey!” Their banter is one of the few bright spots in a movie otherwise bogged down by visual overload and tired tropes.

Venom 3: The Plot Fails to Impress

The Last Dance sees Venom and Eddie on the run in Mexico after the events of the previous film. But the calm doesn’t last long as a new villain, Knull (played by Andy Serkis), the creator of the symbiotes, emerges with a mission to retrieve a special “codex” hidden in Venom’s spine. If obtained, this codex would lead to the destruction of both the human race and the symbiotes.

Unfortunately, this kind of over-the-top, doomsday plot feels out of place in a Venom movie. The first two films thrived on smaller, more intimate stakes—like Venom craving a particular kind of food or dealing with Eddie’s day-to-day life. The Last Dance, by trying to mimic the grandiosity of other Marvel films, loses its unique charm and becomes just another run-of-the-mill superhero flick. The absurdly high stakes and generic CGI battles simply aren’t what made fans fall in love with the weird and witty symbiote.

Strong Performances Undermined by Lackluster Direction

The biggest dichotomy in The Last Dance is the contrast between Hardy’s comedic, sometimes touching performance, and the messy, uninspired CGI-heavy direction. Kelly Marcel, who co-wrote the first two Venom films, takes the director’s chair this time, but the film suffers under her direction, unable to strike the right balance between humor and action. Instead of leaning into the odd-couple comedy that makes Eddie and Venom such a compelling duo, the film gets bogged down in pointless lab scenes and mindless fight sequences.

With Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) leading a military division studying symbiotes, and an alien race hunting for Venom’s codex, the story jumps between characters and locations with little care for pacing or cohesion. Even the introduction of a UFO-obsessed family (with Rhys Ifans playing the dad) feels like a throwaway subplot.

Final Thoughts

Venom: The Last Dance had the potential to be a thrilling and fun addition to the series. Tom Hardy’s dynamic performance is still enjoyable, and the relationship between Eddie and Venom could’ve carried the film on its own. However, the movie is ultimately a disappointment, bogged down by uninspired storytelling, excessive CGI, and a formulaic plot. If this is the final installment of the Venom franchise, it’s a shame it couldn’t give the character the quirky, oddball sendoff he deserved.

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