Every Sony Marvel movie ranked from worst to best
By Wesley Bell
12. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Considering it made almost a billion dollars, it makes sense that Venom would get a sequel. A year later, Venom and Eddie are still connected and operating as the “Lethal Protector” of San Francisco. Cletus Kasady, the serial killer Eddie met at the end of the first, requests to see him again. After the visit, Venom figures out where Kasady hid his victims’ bodies, resulting in Kasady getting the death penalty.
On another visit, an angry Cletus bites Eddie’s hand, causing some of the symbiote to get into his blood. After Venom and Eddie get into a fight over Venom wanting to eat more criminals, the two separate and spend some time apart. Anne convinces Venom to return to Eddie and help break him out of prison after he gets arrested. Before he can be executed, Kasady transforms into Carnage for the first time, slaughtering guards as he escapes before heading to the institution where his girlfriend, Frances, is being kept due to her sonic abilities and frees her.
The two decide to get married, kidnapping Anne and the detective Eddie corresponded with as gifts for each other before heading to the church. Venom and Eddie fight Carnage and Shriek, but the conflicting powers of the second duo cause some issues between them. The fight ends with Venom eating Carnage and biting off Kasady’s head. Venom and Eddie then decide to go on vacation to avoid being sent back to prison.
This film leans more into the camp than the last, making Eddie and Venom’s dynamic even more explicitly a parody of a romantic relationship, with the latter describing the separation as a breakup multiple times. The movie is aware of what it is and doesn’t take itself too seriously, which could make it enjoyable.
While the film has plenty of issues, one of the biggest is that Naomi Harris and Woody Harrelson are criminally underutilized. The short runtime doesn’t help either since the movie jumps from scene to scene and hardly has a chance to breathe. Unfortunately, despite his name being in the title, Carnage doesn’t get enough focus, which is a shame since the character is so fascinating in the comics.