Venom: Let there Be Carnage (Andy Serkis, 2021)

Somewhat unsurprisingly, given the commercial success of the first film in the franchise, we get a second instalment. More surprisingly, given the artistic poverty of the concept, this has Andy Serkis at the helm and Tom Hardy not just starring again, but also involved in the script and production. You'd have thought they'd have known better. As it is, it's a CGI bombardment with the human-symbiote antihero taking on his villainous counterpart, the hybrid offspring of the original symbiote crossed with a psychopath on death row, and in typical superhero adversary fashion, just the same as the protagonist, except bigger and meaner. The only relief to be had from the tedious pagga is the deft quipping between the hero and his amoral other half, which has been much boosted and thereby raises it above the level of the first film.

5/10