As a big budget comic book blockbuster revolving around a reporter bonded with an intergalactic parasite that finds a secondary host, one who happens to be a deranged serial killer, Venom: Let There Be Carnage hardly sounds like a love story. However, director Andy Serkis is adamant that his superhero sequel is about a torrid affair above all else.
Thankfully, he’s not talking about the dynamic between Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and Michelle Williams’ Anne Weying, which was one of the first film’s weakest aspects, despite the fact the pair are regarded by many critics and a number of peers as two of their generation’s finest talents.
Serkis is of course talking about the dysfunctional duo of Eddie and Venom, which the first trailer shifted from an unwitting host embracing his alien interloper to something more akin to a buddy movie or screwball comedy. That’s a bizarre enough setup as it is, but Serkis explained why he believes the love story angle was the most important one to establish in Let There Be Carnage.
“The film is a love story, but not the love story you might think. It’s very much about the extraordinary relationship between symbiote and host. Any love affair has its pitfalls, its high points and low points; Venom and Eddie’s relationship absolutely causes problems and stress, and they have a near-hatred for each other. But they have to be with each other, they can’t live without each other. That’s companionship, love, the things that relationships are really about.”
It sort of makes sense when you think about it, even if we’re talking about a broad crowd-pleaser stuffed to the gills with visual effects and wide-ranging destruction. Watching Tom Hardy play off against himself as Eddie and Venom hit all the beats expected from a relationship drama is poised to be a highlight of Let There Be Carnage, and that’s without even considering Woody Harrelson preparing to step out from the shadows and try and outdo his opposite number when it comes to unhinged insanity.
