Tom Hardy returns as the conflicted antihero in an admirably light-hearted but utterly disposable sequel
The over-extended world of big-screen superheroes has recently extended even further than previously thought possible with a desperate lurch into the realm of the multiverse, allowing for rules to be rewritten, characters to be resurrected and audiences’ pockets to be milked. It was introduced in 2018’s unusually smart Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse before being teased in the
trailer for this December’s Spider-Man: No Way Home and it’ll probably be dogging the genre for years to come, appetite or no. The Venom franchise, which started in 2018 and continues with Let There Be Carnage, exists in an unofficial multiverse of its own: one that eradicates the elevated, overly self-serious worlds of Marvel and DC and continues directly on from the flip flashiness of the 90s Batman films and the slick straightforwardness of the 00s Spider-Man franchise.
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James Bond with panache, rage – and cuddles