Poster © Sony Pictures Releasing. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Adventure & Crime
RatedPG-13
Runtime1 hr 37 mins
ReleasedOctober 1, 2021
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorAndy Serkis
StarringTom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris
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Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
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| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
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| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Venom: Let There Be Carnage's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure & Crime |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 09/14/2021 (London); 10/01/2021 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 37 mins |
| Budget | $110M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Marvel Comics |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Venom: Let There Be Carnage's Interests | |
| General | Pet chickens, breakfast chaos, symbiote goo, San Quentin, newspaper scoops, roommate fights. |
| Music | Marco Beltrami |
| Movies | Venom (2018). Where the roommates met. |
| Television | The Odd Couple. Roommate fights, but with fewer teeth. |
| Heroes | Venom. The roommate who also cooks breakfast. |
| Venom: Let There Be Carnage's Crew | |
| Director | Andy Serkis |
| Writers | Kelly Marcel, Tom Hardy (story), Kelly Marcel (story) |
| Producers | Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, Kelly Marcel, Tom Hardy, Hutch Parker |
| Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
| Music | Marco Beltrami |
| Edited By | Maryann Brandon, Stan Salfas |
| Production | Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Arad Productions, Matt Tolmach Productions, Pascal Pictures |
| Distributed By | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Hidden inside this movie is a decent breakup comedy between a reporter and the alien goo that lives in him. The rest is in a terrible hurry. Let There Be Carnage runs 97 minutes, and Woody Harrelson’s Cletus goes from death row to full chaos before his plan even makes sense. Tom Hardy and Venom bicker like an old couple stuck in a tiny apartment, and the fight where Venom storms out to a dance party on his own is the closest the movie gets to inspired. Stephen Graham is wasted as a detective who mostly stands around. Naomie Harris screams a lot and gets a thin backstory. The big final fight is a red and black smear, and it never feels like anything is at stake. It made $506.8 million worldwide on a reported $110M. A 3.4 because the roommate bits are cute and everything else is noise. $26.01 says you hear someone arguing with themselves in the kitchen this week and figure they’re just talking to their symbiote.
What works: Tom Hardy and Venom’s bickering roommate routine is genuinely funny, and the short runtime keeps it from overstaying.
What doesn’t: Carnage gets no room to be scary, the villain plan barely makes sense, and the climax is a smeary CGI mess.
Who it’s for: Fans of the first Venom who mostly want more of Eddie and Venom arguing.
Spoilers
Eddie and Venom make up just in time to stop Cletus and Shriek at the cathedral where they plan to marry, and Venom ends Carnage for good. In the mid-credits scene, Eddie and Venom get pulled into another universe and watch a TV news report reveal Spider-Man’s secret identity.
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) shares his body and a messy San Francisco apartment with Venom, an alien symbiote who wants to eat bad guys and has been told to stick to chickens. Detective Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham) asks Eddie to interview Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), a serial killer on death row who will only talk to him. Eddie lands a huge scoop. Cletus is not grateful, and when they meet again, he bites Eddie and swallows a little piece of Venom. It grows into something red, huge and much worse: Carnage. Meanwhile Eddie's ex, Anne (Michelle Williams), is engaged. Andy Serkis directs. Ninety-seven minutes, zero chill.
Anyone with a spare room and a lot of chocolate.
| Tom Hardy | Eddie Brock / Venom |
| Michelle Williams | Anne Weying |
| Naomie Harris | Frances Barrison / Shriek |
| Reid Scott | Dan Lewis |
| Stephen Graham | Patrick Mulligan |
| Woody Harrelson | Cletus Kasady / Carnage |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +520 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $506.8M; Domestic box office $213.6M; Opening weekend $90M; Profit / loss (est.) +$88.4M; Rotten Tomatoes 58%; CinemaScore B+; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 58% (283 reviews); Metacritic 49 / 100; PostTrak audience 76% positive; CinemaScore B+; IMDb users 5.9 / 10 (312,952 votes); movie.guru score 3.9.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.