When Venom hit theaters back in 2018, we called it “an interminable adventure through San Francisco’s streets and, for whatever reason, frequently its bodegas,” adding, “Through an inner monologue granted by [Eddie Brock and Venom’s] symbiosis, Venom will absolutely not shut the fuck up about how he’s going to eat people.”
Well, judging by this trailer for its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, this sure is another Venom!
This first look offers more of the same that made the original an inexplicable hit. Tom Hardy once again puts on his unplaceable and often incomprehensible accent to play Eddie Brock alongside his costar: a tar-colored CG goo that sees Tom Hardy once again put on his Keith David as a werewolf voice. A convenience store is once again the uncredited third lead—but that’s not to say there aren’t a couple changes.
Firstly, now the movie is leaning very hard into the Odd Couple muck of Tom Hardy living with his inky alien blob. Venom is the Oscar, who is messy and wants to eat people; Hardy is the Felix, who is uptight in that he must constantly remind Venom not to eat people.
Secondly, now there’s another goopy monster man! It’s Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady, a serial killer given a lethal injection that somehow ends up being the Venom that looks like ketchup: Carnage! (Is the trailer’s splattered catsup gag foreshadowing or is that giving this too much credit?)
Prepare to revisit the oppressively blue deli when Venom: Let There Be Carnage arrives September 24.
