Critics’ First Reactions to Sony’s Venom Sequel

While Marvel Studios is certainly enjoying an exciting run with releases in theaters and on Disney+ in 2021, Sony Pictures has its own stream of success to look forward to as well before the year comes to an end. Most of the hype is rightfully coming from Spider-Man: No Way Home, although Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has its own new entry in the upcoming Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

After the original film from 2018 wowed at the box office, Tom Hardy’s next outing looks to take the symbiotic craziness to new levels this time around. Woody Harrelson will be playing the film’s terrifying new villain, and with MCU veteran Andy Serkis serving as the director, fans are looking forward to seeing what Sony has in store.

Trailers have teased a wild story with more intense action and drama than its predecessor, and Sony appears confident in the sequel’s ability to put butts in movie theater seats after the success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings from Marvel Studios.

Now, the first reactions to Venom‘s follow-up effort are teasing what exactly to expect in-universe.

Read this: Venom: Let There Be Carnage Can Get Delayed Again!

Critics’ First Reactions to Sony’s Venom Sequel

Ahead of the October 1 release of Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, critics shared their first spoiler-free reactions to Tom Hardy’s second Venom solo movie.

Nerdist Vice President Dan Casey described the film as “a wild-ass movie” and warned fans to stick around until the credits finish rolling.

ScreenRant’s Molly Freeman felt that the sequel was somewhat overstuffed and fast-paced but still includes some “really entertaining and charming moments” between Eddie Brock and Venom.

Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes’ Erik Davis praised Tom Hardy’s performance throughout the plot and spoke of the film “(leaning) into its darkly hilarious tone” all the way through.

Venom 2: Fun, but Disappointing?

With Venom having come in as an unexpected darling amongst fans, viewers were excited to find out if Let There Be Carnage would live up to the anticipation that’s built over the past year.

Although parts of the sequel appear to work well, particularly with Tom Hardy’s mastery of the role, critics also didn’t hold back on the story, which appears to be underwhelming at times and forgettable.

Read this: Venom 3 Is In Development Confirms Tom Hardy In An Interview

One potential point of concern from the reviews is the fact that none of them mentioned Woody Harrelson’s performance as Carnage, one of the most iconic symbiotes from Marvel Comics. After only seeing a couple of minutes of action in the post-credits scene from Venom, there are still questions asking how much he actually impacts the story in a leading role.

Overall, it appears that Sony’s next inclusion in its Spider-Man franchise will be an entertaining ride, although perhaps not the most memorable outing before the post-credits scene is revealed. However, the studio is still optimistic about Let There Be Carnage‘s financial outlook as fans begin coming back to theaters more fervently.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage will release in theaters on October 1, 2021.