Kevin Smith Reviews Venom: Let There Be Carnage

If a new Marvel movie comes out and Kevin Smith doesn’t sound off on it, did it even really get released? Speaking on the latest FatMan Beyond LIVE, Smith opened up about having seen Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the new film from Sony Pictures with Tom Hardy’s Lethal Protector. In large part Smith praised the film for its brisk pacing and short run time, but was quick to point out that perhaps the title was a hair misleading if you took the final word at its traditional meaning. In short, he noted: “Did you like Venom? Well boy, I can’t say that you’re necessarily going to enjoy this much more. They take the concept, everything that you thought was fun about it and kind of ‘let’s do it again but shorter! And bring Carnage into it!’ 

He added, “Here I’ll say this, Let There Be Carnage? I’d put a question mark at the end of that. Like, well, what does ‘Carnage’ say to you other than the character? Body count. I was actually surprised at the body count….He’s a serial killer BEFORE he gets a symbiot in him and sh-t, so you’re like ‘Aw he turns his hand into a cleaver!’ In a world where, I’m not saying every movie has to be this, but what’s that Kingsman movie where they went in a church and f-cking slaughtered everybody? It’s a pretty high bar for a comic book movie where you’re like ‘All right, Carnage could do this,’ and he didn’t. He swung it, it was very, very cool, don’t get me wrong. Again, no complaints, but could you imagine him halving people? And you could get away with it in this movie, they got a real sense of humor about death and violence in this movie.”

Smith further praised the runtime for the movie, calling it a “chef’s kiss” and saying that Venom: Let There Be Carnage is shorter than the current cut of his upcoming Clerks III. “So it tells you that Andy Serkis is a far better filmmaker than I am,” he added with a chuckle.

“You know, it continues to be fun little Tom Hardy project, he f-cking wrote or came up with the story, he’s deeply invested in it and obviously giving it his all. There’s sh-t that legit made me laugh out loud. There’s a lot of chicken jokes in the f-cking thing, and one of the, I don’t think that I’m spoiling anything to tell you that eventually Venom and Carnage will fight, and one of the ultimate line, the coup de grâce line, was pretty f-cking wonderful, literally made me laugh out loud in the theater.”

Venom: Let There be Carnage (sans question mark) is now playing in theaters.