It's all very weird, and yet not half-weird enough. Strained edginess mingles with strained sentiment, and also with gags that would make your great-grandfather roll his eyes.

At a tight 90 minutes, Serkis' sequel doesn't feel long, but it is exhausting. It's an entire movie pitched at 11 that screams in your face, "YOU SHOULD BE HAVING FUN."

I actually had a riot and enjoyed it.

Tom Hardy saves Venom: Let There Be Carnage from being a total disaster, but can’t help its story from feeling relatively weightless.