At the start of October, Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage was released. When the first Venom movie was released in 2018, it was very well received by its audience and made $856 million globally. This second film took all the humorous and chaotic aspects that made the first one popular and magnified them. Spoiler warning ahead!

Tom Hardy, as usual, knew exactly how to appeal to his audience and created some fun traction between Venom and Eddie in the movie. He contributed to the film’s plot by working with writer Kelly Marcel to pitch the sequel. To follow the first film and the lighthearted, wild details that it entailed, Venom 2 did an excellent job creating an amusing and absurd atmosphere in every scene apart from the fighting and action ones. To put things into perspective, take the famous lobster scene from the first movie, harness its chaos, and channel that into a full 90 minutes, and you’ve got yourself Venom 2.

The most captivating parts of this movie are actually the ones that don’t have to do with the villain, which is quite impressive considering how Woody Harrelson is typically the enthralling addition to any film. The eccentricity between Eddie and Venom here somehow overcomes that with their interactions and appeals to audiences’ liking for disarray and sensible playfulness.

What was especially wonderful about this movie was how lighthearted the banter was and how it managed to include real conflicts in a non-toxic manner. Eddie’s ex-fiance, Anne, tells him about her engagement with Dr. Dan, which Eddie is initially heartbroken over. However, there is no following bout of unhealthy coping; they regard Dan with annoyance and sourness rather than heated rage. Instead of some revenge-induced outburst, Venom sympathizes with Eddie and does his best to take care of him. While this seems to be just a small note of passivity and care, it’s also an exemplary illustration of coping with emotional damage in a healthy manner. By the end of the film, both Venom and Eddie also come to accept Dan, having come to terms with his and Anne’s relationship.

More specifically, regarding the content between Eddie and Venom, their relationship also has its fair share of character development. With Eddie being dead set on wanting peace and functional quiet, and Venom alternatively craving to kill (read: eat) bad guys, their wishes on how to live are not the most symbiotic. They clash and fight, not respecting what each does for the other in their own ways. They even spend some time apart, with Venom spreading his wings at an allegorically queer underground rave party. Though, as the climax of the movie’s plot heightens, they do make up with the mediative help of Anne. While their conflict was also framed in a more humorous light, with the delightful inclusion of pet chickens, domesticity, and apartment destruction, ultimately seeing the development of their relationship and compromised understanding of one another is quite endearing.