Wait... do people love Venom now?
The Venom 3 trailer has got a fun reaction online. Meanwhile, I review Bad Boys: Ride Or Die, The Watched, and Rosalie.
Everyone suddenly wants to join Venom and Eddie for their Last Dance
This week, we all got our first look at the third Venom movie — the superbly-titled Venom: The Last Dance. The previous Venom films have earned a cumulative $1.3bn at the box office, despite Rotten Tomatoes approval percentages of just 30% and 57%1. On paper, they’re a classic example of that tedious, entirely false dichotomy between fans and critics. What does it matter about the critics when “real” movie fans love Venom?
It’s a debate I’ve found myself sat in an awkward position on. I’m a film critic and, naturally, therefore completely out of touch with what “real” fans want. But I also absolutely and unashamedly love the Venom movies.
When the first film came out to savage reviews in 2018, I wrote for The Guardian about how its box office success showed that cinemagoers were after something stupider than the very serious superhero movies of the time — “Venom is the partygoer who arrives in a clown outfit when the dress code is black tie,” I wrote. Lest we forget, audiences in 2018 had just seen the ultra-bleak final moments of Avengers: Infinity War. Even the MCU had stopped laughing.
Six years later and with The Last Dance setting itself up as the epic conclusion of the unlikely bond between reporter Eddie Brock and his head-munching symbiote buddy, the tone among the cinephile community seems to have changed. Based on the social media response to the trailer, people are actually excited this time. But why?
It helps that the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance is a stone-cold banger. Even at a hefty three minutes long, it keeps the nature of the movie’s Big Bad at something of an arm’s length and avoids simply delivering the entire plot. We know that Venom and Eddie will face a threat from the former’s alien homeworld — it’s probably Knull, which means we might get WINGED VENOM — and it’s also clear from the trailer that Stephen Graham’s cop character is back, imbued with the Toxin symbiote. Will he be an ally or an enemy for Venom? We don’t yet know.
But there’s also a heavy dose of chaos — resisting the urge to say “carnage” there like Woody Harrelson in a silly wig — throughout the preview. The whole thing starts with a blackly comic scene of Venom and Eddie beating up crooks, messing up their catchphrase, and then eating some heads. It’s joyously silly, helped as ever by how strongly Hardy leans into his performances — both of them.
The trailer only gets more batshit from there, including a casino-set dance sequence with Venom and Mrs Chen. It has to be seen to be believed and frankly, in around a second of trailer screen time, they’ve totally sold me on whatever crazy stuff they want to do. Forget Joker: Folie à Deux; this is the comic book musical I want to see in 2024.
On top of all that, the movie is going big on the bromance — or romance, depending on your opinion — between Eddie and his internal friend. “We may not make it out of this alive, buddy,” says Eddie in the teaser. “The time has come, Eddie,” Venom says solemnly. Gosh guys, just kiss already.
But the thing I love is that a lot of people seem to be earnestly excited about Venom: The Last Dance. The franchise is no longer the whipping boy of the superhero landscape — Sony keeps helping him out on that front with the likes of Morbius and Madame Web — and so fans are starting to emerge from the woodwork. With Marvel now flagging a little and superheroes occupying a smaller slice of the blockbuster pie — three of the last four highest-grossing movies of the year have come from outside this world — everyone is taking the genre a lot less seriously.
It reminds me a little of the differing critical responses to Mamma Mia! and its 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. The former has a pretty poor 55% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while the sequel has an impressive 79% chunk of good reviews. It’s not because it’s a better movie — it isn’t — but more a mark of how the critical approach to the first film shifted over time and in the face of its gargantuan commercial success.
In some ways, it’s almost an opportunity for a bit of a mea culpa — an apology for getting it wrong the last time. To me, it feels like that’s happening with Venom: The Last Dance. Six years after this dumbass genius franchise started, the ground is finally fertile for people to water its weirdo plants and confess that, actually, a superhero movie with a 90s feel and Tom Hardy doing silly voices is what we all want deep down.
What I’m saying is that I’m utterly thrilled that the world has caught up and will be excitedly watching the third and final Venom movie along with me this year. Personally, I’m pretty certain I’m going to spend most of the running time in floods of tears — mostly at the beauty of Hardy’s dynamic duo of stupid voices — in the face of saying farewell to my oddball lovebirds.
It’s gonna be hell of a blockbuster and, if the box office hasn’t been saved by the Minions at that point, we can trust in Venom.
Venom: The Last Dance is in UK cinemas from 25th October.
B4d Boys, B4d Boys, what you gonna do when they come 4 you?
Bad Boys for Life got oddly lucky when it arrived in cinemas. It became effectively the last big movie to hit the box office in the early days of 2020 and stood as the highest-grossing film of that year for months. In fact, it ended the year as the top American movie, smashing the financial takings of the two previous films in the franchise. Directing duo Adil & Bilall — RIP Batgirl — deserve a tonne of credit for taking Michael Bay’s pair of action movies and giving them a fresh, energetic lick of paint.
Thankfully, they’re back for the fourquel no one asked for. And you know what? Bad Boys: Ride or Die is pretty darn fun. The thing starts with Marcus (Martin Lawrence) collapsing with a heart attack at Mike’s (Will Smith) wedding, leaving him determined to throw himself into action. He gets the opportunity when the duo’s late captain is accused of being corrupt, leading via a series of contrivances to them heading out on the run with Mike’s estranged son Armando (Jacob Scipio) from the last movie.
The joy of Ride or Die is in how it takes a pretty threadbare plot — don’t expect any earth-shattering twists — and elevates it by virtue of sheer storytelling energy. Without the constant rat-a-tat headache of Bay’s fucking-the-frame2 visual style, the lightning in a bottle chemistry between the two leads is able to take centre stage. It’s so comfortable watching them share the screen, lightly bantering in the way that all the best buddy-cop duos do. Smith and Lawrence are movie stars, so Adil & Bilall are wise enough to get the hell out of their way.
But that’s not to say that Ride or Die skimps on the action. When the time comes to fuck the frame, these guys aren’t afraid to go for it. The camera work is kinetic and the gunplay imaginative, whether it’s unfolding in a neon-lit nightclub or in the crumbling timber of an alligator park.
That action, too, is shot through with character. Marcus has become convinced he can’t die in the wake of his heart attack, while Mike is preoccupied with saving his son and keeping him out of custody. This plays into the choreography of the fight sequences, with Marcus’s invulnerability essentially used as a plot device to resolve any quiet stand-offs. He just blunders in with joyous aplomb.
Against all odds, it looks like there’s still quite a bit of life left in the Bad Boys franchise. As long as Sony can keep Adil & Bilall on board, I’ll happily join the multiplex queue for another one of these. And as much as I’m not a Michael Bay fan, I’ll keep hooting with laughter every time he gets an absurd, Stan Lee-esque cameo.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is in UK cinemas now.
Watching and waiting… and waiting… and waiting
Like many horror films, The Watched — known as The Watchers pretty much everywhere outside the UK — saw both the benefit and hindrance of an excellent and atmospheric trailer. The previews for Ishana Night Shyamalan’s debut film set up the intriguing concept of a group of people trapped in a forest bunker, where they are observed daily by a society of mysterious, powerful creatures. New arrival Mina (Dakota Fanning) is very keen to escape.
Unfortunately, the problem with that intrigue is that it leaves the first act feeling like a bit of a needless plod. We’re just waiting for the movie to get to the point the trailer got us to — tensions between the group over breaking the “rules” set by the Watchers. By the time the film had cycled through the various set pieces shown in the trailer, we were an hour in and I found myself yawning in desperation for something unexpected to happen.
But what follows is even less interesting than that. It’s a damp squib of a story that fails to deepen its mystery and squanders the solution early in the hope that some late-in-the-day plot twists will elevate the material.
This all probably worked great on the page in A. M. Shine’s novel but, on the big screen, it’s very leaden and sluggish without the visual invention to make it work. Perhaps this is just a case of a story that suited one medium and couldn’t withstand the transition to the big screen.
The Watched is in UK cinemas now.
This is moi
We’ve already talked about The Greatest Showman once in this newsletter, but I’m bringing it up again. One of the standout elements was Keala Settle, who gave a rousing performance as the bearded lady Lettie that powered the central track This Is Me all the way to an Oscar. Settle, though, now has a worthy opponent for the best portrayal of a famously bearded lady thanks to Nadia Tereszkiewicz’s remarkable work in the title role of Stéphanie Di Giusto’s period drama Rosalie.
Based on the real life of 20th century bearded lady — and straight-up legend — Clémentine Delait, the film follows Rosalie’s marriage to struggling French businessman Abel (Benoît Magimel). He marries her for her dowry and without knowledge of her hirsutism, though it isn’t long before he finds out. She decides to embrace herself, though, and soon her impressive beard draws plenty of lucrative business to Abel’s usually empty café.
Rosalie is a knotty and fascinating watch, using Clémentine’s true story — she really did run a café and sell pictures of herself — as groundwork for a more complex take on desire, shame, and the fragility of gender performance in a society built around reputation and performative masculinity. It’s telling that both Rosalie and Abel have struggles around their body, with the latter unable to work without pain due to his military wounds.
Tereszkiewicz and Magimel both embrace the nuance of their characters, with palpable electricity allowed to pass between them, even if neither person really has the tools to express the shifting dynamic of their relationship. Magimel, in particular, wears his conflicted masculinity all over his face and body, hiding increasingly in the background as Rosalie further embraces her new status as the most famous woman in her region of France.
The constant austerity of Rosalie’s visual approach — Rosalie is the only character who ever seems to wear colours beyond grey and brown — does leave the whole thing a little staid and it sometimes feels as if this is a 90-minute story stretched extensively to reach two hours. However, the performances and commentary about the role of women in this society are more than strong enough to make Di Giusto’s movie an arthouse treat well worth seeking out.
Rosalie is in UK cinemas now. Find a screening here.
Trailer of the Week: Starve Acre
Folk horror is having a hell of a moment — even Doctor Who got in on the act — and this one looks like a doozy. Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark are on board for a creepy kid tale packed with twists and elements of spooky folklore. The director is Daniel Kokotajlo, who previously made the fantastic Jehovah’s Witness drama Apostasy.
With all of these ingredients in place and a trailer that gave me chills in the best possible way, I can’t wait to see how this one pans out.
Starve Acre is in UK cinemas from 6th September.
Next week: Rumours of the death of the box office are greatly exaggerated, we assume, because the first big family movie of the year is here as Pixar unveils the long-awaited Inside Out 2.
I know Rotten Tomatoes scores are simplistic and not a great measure of critical nuance, but I think they’re a decent broad-brush way of taking the temperature of whether people mostly thought a film was good or bad. Just, don’t think about them too much.
He apparently coined this term years ago to describe his own style, but I can’t actually find where he first said it. It’s just a piece of pure Hollywood lore at this point.