It may have sounded like a surprising pick at first, but when you think about, there’s arguably nobody better than Andy Serkis to direct Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Ruben Fleischer’s opener made a lot of money, but it wasn’t a great movie, with a formulaic narrative and one-note characters single-handedly elevated by Tom Hardy’s fantastic dual performance as both Eddie Brock and the titular symbiote.
The leading man is now credited as a producer and writer having cracked the story with longtime close friend and collaborator Kelly Marcel, so his fingerprints will be all over the second installment. Serkis may only have two features under his belt behind the camera, but biopic Breathe showed a strong grasp of character, and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle was an effects-driven adventure set in a heightened reality.
Of course, he’s also a pioneering motion capture performer having played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes trilogy, additionally serving as a consultant on Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla and Avengers: Age of Ultron, as well as directing the second unit on The Hobbit trilogy.
His famed turn as Gollum and Sméagol was a masterclass in bringing two completely different sides of a personality to life, and in a new interview Serkis admitted that he sees the similarities between Middle-earth’s former ring bearer and Eddie Brock’s alter ego.
“I’ve spent a considerable amount of my life playing a character with two sides to his personality and there’s common ground there. The digital characters have got to seriously act. They’ve got to be totally believable. I wanted to find a physical vocabulary for Carnage that was entirely different to Venom. Everything’s always underpinned by reality and the truth. I think it’s the perfect movie in a way, because it’s very celebratory of what cinema can do.”
The effects in Venom often left a lot to be desired, but based on the latest trailer, Let Them Be Carnage has addressed those issues. Combine superior CGI with another barnstorming Hardy performance overseen by Serkis, and the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters blockbuster promises plenty of fun.
