I suspect I’m entering unpopular opinion territory, but I really enjoyed this Venom sequel. I mostly liked the original but I thought it was too inconsistent and had a rather unmemorable ending. This movie feels more in control of its insane self… like they went in with assurance that they knew what kind of movie they were making.

So Venom: Let There Be Carnage picks up a year after the first film with Eddie Brock back on hard times. And squabbling constantly with Venom, the symbiotic organism secretly living inside him. This time he’ll have to go face to face with Carnage, another symbiotic lifeform that has taken over the body of Woody Harrelson’s serial killer character.

This movie is so manic, so aggressively crazy and hyper that I really should hate it. But, here’s the thing: the movie controls the madness. It never totally loses focus or goes out of control. Yes, the movie needs a round of meditation it’s so hyper… but I fell into its groove and really enjoyed it.

My enjoyment of the flick literally comes down to grooving with the insanity and admiring the tight control I felt they had on the content. I’m not saying the plot is amazing and I do think they left some cards on the table when it came to Woody Harrelson’s backstory and whatever they were trying to say about his relationship with Tom Hardy. But I think the exuberance and nuttiness counterbalances it.

Woody Harrelson does a pretty good job here. Once he gets his groove on with Carnage, I started to get this familiar vibe… that he was some kind of Natural Born Killer, you might say. I dug that and I would have dug so much more if they got Juliette Lewis to play his girlfriend. Alas, no.

So yeah, I’m shocking even myself by giving this flick such a good review. I didn’t think it would be much of anything and I wound up liking it. And, ironically, for a reason that I’d normally hate in a big budget flick… the ability to just go over-the-top. But the movie controlled itself and that allowed me in and to enjoy the ride.

Score: 85