Venom: Let There Be Carnage (4k UHD + Blu-Ray + Digital HD)

Blu-Ray Reviews | Dec 20th, 2021

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (4k UHD + Blu-Ray + Digital HD)
Sony. Image used with permission for review purposes.

Starring: Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Stephen Graham, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott
Written By: Tom Hardy, Kelly Marcel
Directed By: Andy Serkis
Studio: Sony
Buy On Amazon.com

The sequel to the surprising hit for Venom is out now on 4k UHD, Blu-Ray, DVD and on demand. The first movie was a bit of a mess but an entertaining mess nonetheless. Let There Be Carnage is more of the same but for some reason, I enjoyed this one even more.

The movie picks up where the last one left off in the mid-credit scene, with serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) wanting to talk to journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy). Meanwhile, Venom is still bonded with Eddie and takes down criminals in San Francisco, even though Eddie doesn’t want to do it. At some point, Cletus is sent to be killed but during a prior incident, a piece of Venom bonds to Cletus and thus Carnage is born. Carnage escapes, wants to reunite with his love, Shriek (Naomie Harris) and causes a lot of trouble. Eddie and Venom must put their differences aside to become the “lethal protector” that the city needs.

Like with Venom, I had no expectations with it. If it’s not in the MCU (more on that later), I get a bit skeptical about superhero/comic book movies. The first Venom movie felt like a mess but at the same time, I had a good time watching most of it. The same applies with this one, but I liked it better. Most of the characters were established already.The backstory of Cletus Kasady felt rushed and muddled. You can tell Woody was having a fun time hamming it for the screen though.

I could understand Tom Hardy this time and felt like he had a better handle of the role. I thought the best was Venom and the stuff he was saying. The movie is very much an action, comic book movie but there were a lot of comedic elements to this as well. The first movie had that as well but felt like a lot of the lines hit the mark this time. Michelle Williams and Reid Scott didn’t have anything to do in the movie until the very end of the movie. They were definitely under-utilized. Detective Mulligan played by Stephen Graham was interesting but felt underutilized as some other characters. They tease he will become, I’m assuming a villain, in the next movie? I thought that might have been an end credits scene but nope.

With Andy Serkis at the helm, I thought the action was better and the special effects performances were better as well. The movie wasn’t too long and didn’t overstay its welcome. The end credits scene is a pretty important one, which ties into the MCU in a big way. We’ll see what happens with the future for both Sony and Marvel.

The special features are on the Blu-Ray disc and not on the 4k one. There’s a featurette on the action sequences, there’s some outtakes, some deleted scenes, and a few other odd and ends. Let There Be Action is kind of an overall view of the making of the movie, the characters, actors, the action and Serkis’s direction. The outtakes were funny, as usual but with lots of cursing (unfortunately bleeped out). The deleted scenes had more scenes featuring Cletus/Carnage and Shriek, alternate scenes with Eddie and Venom and an extended ending with Venom and Eddie on the beach in Mexico. I liked the easter eggs featurette, which in a way, felt like Sony beating the YouTubers to the punch…well maybe a few months late. The rest of the featurettes are about Cletus, Woody and Shriek/Naomie.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage was enjoyable and I liked this one better than the first one. I rated them the same but I think they are similar movies, I just found myself liking this one more. I am still wondering what a Venom movie directly in the MCU would look like and looks like we may get that down the road. This isn’t a perfect movie but it’s a funny comic book movie that should please fans.

Features:
Let There Be…Action
Outtakes & Bloopers
Deleted Scenes
Eddie & Venom: The Odd Couple
Tangled Web: Easter Eggs
Sick and Twisted Cletus Kasady
A Fine Romance: Cletus & Shriek
Concept to Carnage
Select Scene Previs
Extras Trailer
Previews

Video:
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Upscaled 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio:
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Portuguese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48 kHz, 16-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)

Subtitles:
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Cantonese, Indonesian, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Thai

Bottom Line: A fun, entertaining comic book movie that isn’t perfect by any means.
Running Time: 97 mins
Rating: PG-13
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:

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