Venom was a surprise smash-hit, bringing in audiences across the world to watch one of Marvel's most popular anti-heroes come to life. While 2018's Venom wasn't the best superhero film released that year, it was one of the more memorable -- thanks to an offbeat and endearing lead performance by Tom Hardy. Luckily, the film's sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, matches Hardy's eccentric beats to land a peculiar and unique superhero movie.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage picks up about a year after the events of the first film. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is adjusting to his new life, including surprise fame over his coverage of Cletus Kassidy (Woody Harrelson), which enrages the serial killer when he publishes information about his last victims. Eddie's personal life is in shambles. His ex-fiance Anne (Michelle Williams) is newly engaged to Dan (Reid Scott) and Brock's symbiote is growing restless, and this couldn't come at a worse time. Kassidy ends up exposed to a piece of the symbiote and ingests it, which leads him to become Carnage and gives him the chance to save his super-powered lover/fellow murderer, Frances (Naomie Harris).

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Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a roller coaster that never lets up on its jokes and bonkers comedy -- even during the film's escalated tensions. Venom's most memorable moment was its bizarre second act, and in Venom 2, director Andy Serkis fully embraces this quirkiness from the get-go. Eddie Brock is a loveably weird sadsack. His bickering with the symbiote is equal parts petty, moving, and silly. Hardy -- who serves as an Executive Producer and gets a "Story By" credit in the film alongside its writer Kelly Marcel -- throws himself into the goofy protagonist. Venom 2 cements Eddie as more or less Marvel's Charlie Brown.

Even Venom gets a character arc, leading the symbiote to explore San Francisco in a strange sequence that still produces laughs. Venom: Let There Be Carnage's cast matches the film's weirdness and sense of fun, with Harrelson notably hamming it up as Kassidy. Both Harris and Williams find weird little beats to infuse their characters with edges that a weaker film wouldn't have. Venom 2 is grisly at times -- especially once Carnage is unleashed and the sheer absurdity of his power-set is on full display -- but still maintains hilarity.

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Carnage screams while breaking out of prison.

Venom 2 is not necessarily the best movie in the world. Serkis' flights of absurd fancy can lead to some inconsistencies in terms of Venom's range. Unlike Carnage, Venom's nebulous abilities make him somewhat boring to watch in a fight. While the purposefully over-the-top banter can be fun during action sequences, they mostly end up being spectacles for weightless CGI. It's a fairly simple plot, with little in the way of genuine surprise. Venom: Let There Be Carnage is very much an acquired taste: if basic superhero narratives with a gonzo sense of humor aren't to your liking, then this one might not be for you.

While Venom suffered from a tonal mismatch between the weird but memorable second act and the rest of the mundane movie around it, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is firmly and confidently violent, funny, and over-the-top. Luckily, everyone involved seems aware of what kind of movie they're making and throws themselves into it with gusto. It succeeds far better than Venom, and its end result is more than fun enough to warrant a watch.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage opens in movie theaters in the United States on Oct. 1.

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