Venom 2 is a North American fantasy blockbuster based on the Marvel comic book series of the same name and tells the story of the adventures of one of the most popular antiheroes of modern graphic works. The project was filmed for approximately $ 110,000,000 and implemented using the production facilities of the famous Columbia Pictures studio (in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment and others). At the same time, the picture officially entered the Sony cinematic universe, which focuses on various characters associated with Spider-Man. The duration of the film was 1 hour 37 minutes, the release on the big screens took place in September 2021.

Production details

After the financial success of the first part, Columbia Pictures began to work harder on the development of its own franchise, based on the library of comics about Spider-Man, and launched 2 projects into the active stage of production: Morbius and Venom 2 (for the post of the director of the latter, the production team headed by Amy Pascal and Avi Arad, she decided to invite Andy Serkis, who is known to the public for both acting and implementing a variety of advanced technologies in the field of cinema).

The basis of the new story (plot) was invented by the leading actor Tom Hardy together with screenwriter Kelly Marcel (the main script was written by Kelly herself). The central theme of the picture, they chose the confrontation between Eddie Brock and the cult villain Cletus Kasady (Carnage).

Four companies were involved in the creation of the second part at once: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Tensent Pictures, Pascal Pictures. Production started on November 15, 2019 and ended only in 2020.

The cast included stars from the first installment of the franchise, along with brand new artists. Tom Hardy reprized the role of journalist Eddie Brock, who merged into a single whole with an alien entity (symbiote) and became an antihero. The main female party was taken over by Michelle Williams, who again portrayed District Attorney Anne Weying. And Woody Harrelson was asked to play the main antagonist of the picture (the role of the serial maniac and psychopath Cletus Kasady, who later turns into the red symbiote of Carnage).

The musical accompaniment for the tape was prepared by Marco Beltrami, the distribution of the superhero blockbuster was handled by Sony Pictures Release.

Plot

Eddie Brock is still getting used to coexistence with the Venom symbiote, continuing to play heroes on the streets of San Francisco in his free time and at the same time working for the popular Daily Bugle publishing house. One day, he is invited to take a dying interview with Cletus Kasady, who was sentenced to death by the court for numerous murders and crimes he had committed earlier. The psychopath ends up directly provoking, triggering a Venom attack, and then purposefully biting Eddie, swallowing part of the alien creature inside. This leads to the fact that in the process of implementing the death sentence, Kasady unexpectedly transforms into Carnage for those present and successfully escapes from justice. Now Brock has to stop the most dangerous creature that was born, destroying everything in its path and ready to cause massive bloody chaos in the metropolis …

Review and review

In 2018, the famous company Columbia Pictures presented its new creation to comic book fans for the first time: a project called “Venom”, which actually marked the beginning of another cinematic universe and fully showed the story of the character Eddie Brock, who, as a result of certain circumstances, became a carrier of Venom and was forced to take the role of the savior of humanity. The film then became a real box-office hit, accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars, and managing to attract the attention of a huge number of viewers and geeks.

And now, in 2021, the sequel of the sensational blockbuster is released with the same cast, a fresh and interesting villain (bearing an almost cult status among fans of Marvel Comics graphic works) and directed by Andy Serkis at the head. At the same time, the timing became even less than last time, and the actor Woody Harrelson officially entered the cast of the picture, who got the role of Cletus Kasady.

And how did the film come out as a result of all of the above? In this case, the answer will be easily predictable and definite: no miracles and force majeure things happened here, because the project simply took and multiplied everything that was in the first part, including the pros and cons, and presented the viewer with an action movie of a purely entertainment nature which matches well with the PG-13 rating.

The cast, led by Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Naomi Harris, Woody Harrelson and others, is having fun and showing normal on-screen interactions. Thanks to this, it will be possible to see good old Eddie Brock from the first film, trying to get used to an unusual life for himself, and interesting scenes with the participation of various characters.

Special computer effects, camera work, musical accompaniment and other things here are almost the same as the original of 2018. For these reasons, there is no reason to expect any major changes either: those who liked the technical implementation of the first “Venom” will be satisfied with its sequel.

Venom 2 here focuses on the funny relationship between Eddie Brock and the symbiote, showing their conversations and relationships with each other throughout the tape, along the way showing various scenes of battles, battles and destruction on the screen. This allows, in the end, to watch this movie with a peculiar interest and often catch positive emotions from various jokes / gags (therefore, fans of a serious atmosphere and a dark style of storytelling will not be able to get pleasure here).

Among the minuses, it is clearly worth noting the creators’ approach to Carnage: the key antagonist, that very bloody red symbiote, is simply not enough in the Columbia Pictures film, and its history, development and final fate are noticeably inferior to the original sources in the form of comics (which can cause quite strong indignation and indignation from a vast Marvel fanbase). Although it should be noted that the actor Woody Harrelson, in the short screen time allotted to him, so well manages to have fun and adequately show part of Kasady’s madness.

In terms of dynamics, scenario part, balance between action and dialogue, Venom 2 will make a different impression on people. Someone will like the great use of humor and the absence of unnecessary serious plot lines, while others will not like the editing techniques used in the film, the moments of switching the tape to the active actions of the characters, as well as the quality of the script. In general, a lot also depends on the personal preferences of movie comics fans.

As for the directorial work of Andy Serkis, we can summarize the following: the famous figure in the mass entertainment industry just went the same way and issued a logical sequel, which organically looks like a sequel. Because of this, it makes no sense to expect any new creative approach, a radical change in tone, significant differences and differences in comparison with the original.

Summing up, it is worth saying that Venom 2 is a good entertaining blockbuster movie that can entertain a person for 90 minutes and deliver positive emotions, but at the same time it does not at all claim to be a masterpiece or a movie focused on quality drama, using a unique concept and acquisition of cult status.