Venom: Let There Be Carnage

I was not a fan of Venom (to put it mildly) but I spontaneously decided to see the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, last night and it was much better than I was expecting.  Shortly after the events of the first movie Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his symbiote Venom are struggling to coexist because Eddie wants to reestablish himself as a serious journalist and Venom is increasingly frustrated because he wants more freedom to eat people.  A serial killer on death row named Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) gives Eddie an exclusive interview but Venom is provoked into attacking him and the resulting altercation causes Cletus to ingest a piece of the symbiote.  Eventually a fully formed symbiote named Carnage emerges which allows Cletus to escape from prison during his execution.  The relationship between Eddie and Venom deteriorates and they separate for a time (with a hilarious scene where Venom goes to a club) but they are forced to work together when Cletus uses Carnage to rescue his girlfriend Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris), a mutant known as Shriek because of her sonic vocal abilities, and kidnap Anne (Michelle Williams), Eddie's former fiancee.  An epic confrontation ensues in which Eddie and Venom must learn that they are better when they work together.  I think the plot is incredibly thin with quite a few holes (Venom is inexplicably able to spawn a red symbiote that is bigger and stronger than him) but I still found it to be a lot of fun.  I especially enjoyed the witty and amusing banter between Eddie and Venom but I also found the exploration of their relationship to be surprisingly poignant.  Hardy's characterization of Eddie is more consistent in this movie than the last one and Harrelson looks like he is having a ball playing such an over the top homicidal maniac.  The battle between Eddie/Venom and Cletus/Carnage seems like it is over very quickly and the stakes are not as high compared to other superhero movies but it is still quite thrilling.  I can't say that I loved this movie but, in my opinion, it is an improvement over the first one and I recommend it to fans of the characters.

Note:  It goes without saying that you should stay for a mid-credits scene.  It's a good one!