Stephen Graham | Screenlife Reviews

On many levels Venom: Let There Be Carnage is exactly what you expect it to be: a giant CGI mess of monsters getting up to all sorts of violent, incomprehensible mischief. However unlike it’s 2018 predecessor, Let There Be Carnage is unable to capitalise on the odd-couple energy of Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and Venom learning to inhabit a body together, instead bombarding you with constant, terribly unfunny dialogue whilst Woody Harrelson is vaguely menacing in the background. The story is practically non-existent, the characters paper-thin and it all culminates in the usual CGI showdown; making for one of the most dull superhero experiences of the year.

Now co-inhabiting one body, Venom and Eddie Brock (Hardy) struggle to find a balance between one’s desire to live a normal life with the other constantly craving human brains. Having re-established himself as a respectable journalist thanks to a series of interviews with notorious serial killer Cletus Kassady (Harrelson), Eddie decides it is time to give Venom the boot, forcing the Symbiote to search for a new host. Bad timing it seems, as Cletus finds himself in possession of a similar Symbiote; the red, ravenous Carnage, with the duo on the hunt for Eddie and Venom in an effort to cement themselves as the most powerful duo in town. But first there’s Cletus’ vocally super-powered girlfriend Shriek (Naomie Harris) to contend with, an obligatory damsel-in-distress appearance from Eddie’s ex Anne (Michelle Williams) and a nosy detective (Stephen Graham) to avoid before the predictably bombastic final battle.

The first Venom wasn’t great. A fairly stock standard superhero origin story, it was held together thanks to a pretty charming interplay between Eddie and Venom as they felt out a situation foreign to both of them, managing to change each others lives for the better (mostly) in the process. Here that relationship takes centre stage, confirming that too much of a good thing can indeed be bad. The “banter”, if you want to call it that, is incessant; constant bickering which inevitably leads to drawn out sequences of violence inflicted on Eddie by Venom. When you realise that Tom Hardy himself had a hand in the script, this shift in focus becomes more understandable and admittedly, it is pretty funny the first time Venom slaps Eddie around, less so the third time it happens.

This is also the only time that the film seems to have an actual story, with the pair bickering whilst trying to uncover the reason Cletus has taken such an interest in a down-on-his-luck Eddie. Once Eddie gives Venom the boot this story thread is simply never mentioned again. Cletus busts out of jail, bonds with Carnage and goes on a spree of mindless violence while we are treated to an extended montage of Venom at a rave, snatching the microphone from rapper Little Simz (who also has a hit single named, you guessed it “Venom”). It’s a strange ode to the wackiness of early 2000’s superhero films; a brief flash of stupid fun that would never find its way into the MCU, that is quickly swept away when you realise that this cute little side story is actually the main event; the film almost over at barely an hour long.

Thus begins the descent into the usual CGI nonsense: Venom and Carnage tussle, leaving Michelle Williams with nothing to do whilst Naomie Harris’ painful villain skulks around, firing off bad one-liners in an annoyingly, needlessly raspy voice. It’s hard to believe that the film was directed by Andy Serkis, a veteran of performance capture known for his precision and dedication to the craft, with nary a personal touch in sight. In fact Let There Be Carnage is one of the most generic, obviously studio-mandated superhero films in years; a pointless sequel designed only to cash in on the success of the first and set things up for inevitable crossovers going forward. When the most exciting aspect of your film is the post-credits scene teasing more films that will almost surely be handled by a better creative team in the future, it cheapens what was already a bad experience.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is not so much a film as it is a montage of painfully unfunny Three Stooges-esque slapstick comedy and over-the-top, generic CGI action. Tom Hardy is solid in the role and this is clearly a character close to his heart but the sequel functions as little more than a vehicle to move Venom into more exciting territory in the future, unfortunately wasting one of his most famous adversaries in the process. There’s only one type of carnage on-screen here and it isn’t the big, red one.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage stars Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Stephen Graham, Reid Scott & Woody Harrelson – In Australian cinemas now and available on-demand in the US.

3/10

Tom Hanks is one of, if not the finest living actors today. The veteran actor, star of classics such as Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan, is also a huge box-office draw, headlining some of the most successful films of all time. As such, it will come as no surprise to anyone that Apple payed a pretty penny to get their hands on Hanks’ latest film Greyhound, a naval war film taking place during WWII that he both stars in and co-wrote. So did Apple’s investment pay off in terms of the quality of the film? It’s not as straightforward a question as it might seem. Greyhound is an engaging battle film with a typically excellent performance from Hanks which does a great job of building an atmosphere of tension and dread. It does however suffer from a distinct lack of characterisation of anyone other than Hanks and a story that is essentially several battle scenes stitched together over the course of one very long voyage between Britain and America. It is not a bad film by any stretch and I was fully engaged the whole time, but it isn’t the next huge classic war film that Apple was hoping for, and definitely is not the content that will draw large amounts of people to the service.

Greyhound follows U.S. Navy Captain Krause (Hanks) on his maiden voyage as commanding officer of the Greyhound destroyer, travelling across the North Atlantic in 1942 as an escort to merchant ships carrying troops and supplies for the war effort on the Front. Once the convoy enters the area of the Atlantic known as “The Black Pit”, their Air Force escort is forced to turn back and the Greyhound is thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a number of German U-Boats stalking the depths. With 72 hours before they enter another patrolled stretch of sea, Commander Krause must rally the other naval ships and ensure as many merchant ships get through to the other side in one piece. It’s a barebones plot, to put it mildly, but director Aaron Schneider gets a surprising amount out of it, steadily building the tension as you anticipate the unseen U-Boat’s first strike, and never letting that go until the 72 hours are through once things kick off. It’s just the right length too, clocking in at a breezy 90 minutes without feeling rushed, letting you sit with the situation and feel the increasingly mounting pressure on the Captain for the full ride, only realising you were holding your breath once the credits roll.

Hanks’ last few projects (The Post, Sully, Bridge of Spies) have seen him lean into his age in films I like to call “Dad movies”. You know the type: true stories that feature an older man in a position of great importance and leadership who use a lot of job specific words and make incredibly difficult, stressful decisions in order to save people or deliver an important message. Greyhound is the latest in this trend and its war-time setting thrusts it even deeper into that “Dad movie” category than those other titles I mentioned. Hanks clearly has a fondness for this time period and the script demonstrates his level of knowledge and understanding of the era, with a heavy use of military jargon and naval vernacular that can be a bit daunting for the casual viewer to grasp when you start. However it does an excellent job of really grounding you in the time period and immersing you in the situation, as the reliance on this technical vocabulary from the outset makes it even more noticeable when the situation becomes increasingly dire and people start slipping up and speaking out of turn and without the proper levels of hierarchy. It’s just another way that Hanks and Schneider build tension and make the film feel almost like horror along with Blake Neely’s great score and the terrifying threat of the constantly lurking enemy.

The issues start to show in Hanks’ script when you take a look at the characters in Greyhound. There’s really only one and that’s Hank’s Captain Krause. Again, he’s great in the role and really sells this man who trusts in his principles, God and his training to get the job done and is tested at every turn. There’s lots of subtle movements and facial expressions that convey the tiredness and the impact the lack of sleep is having on the Captain’s decisions and he is acutely aware that his every decision is taken with a grain of salt as he starts to become more erratic to combat the enemy. The problem is, Hanks is the only person that gets a story arc. Literally nobody else is given anything close to a normal supporting role except for Stephen Graham’s Lieutenant Cole, Krause’s right hand man and the only other actor who gets more than a few lines. Although his performance is solid, even Hanks’ character is severely underwritten as we only ever learn the basics about him. I’m not sure if that was Hanks’ intention, to have you learn what type of man this Commander is through his actions, but there just isn’t anything to him and the audience ends up rooting for him simply because he is Tom Hanks. There is an attempt to give the Commander something of a backstory with one flashback scene introducing his sweetheart back in America – played by the woefully underused Elisabeth Shue – but again, this doesn’t go anywhere and is just a bare minimum device to get you to care for this man, without success.

Ultimately the lack of characterisation stops Greyhound from becoming anything more than a competently executed and well researched representation of one of the lesser known battles of World War II. It is certainly an engaging watch and the devices Schneider and Hanks employ keep you at a heightened level of stress only add to the experience, but at the end of the day when you don’t really care for the characters it’s hard for the film to have much emotional impact. Despite this, any time watching Tom Hanks on-screen is going to be a good time and I can confidently recommend Greyhound as a fun nautical action film. Just don’t expect to be blown away by the next great war picture – 1917 this is not.

Grehound stars Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham & Elizabeth Shue – Available to stream on Apple TV+ now.