As I wrote in my review of Venom: The Last Dance, this is a movie at war with itself. It is both a sci-fi drama about alien invasion and a buck-wild road trip movie about buddies on a mission. There’s plenty to like about writer/director Kelly Marcel’s spin in the Spider-Verse, including the comic mayhem her dual anti-heroes get up to. But my absolute favorite bit of business between interstellar BFFs Eddie Brock and Venom (both played by Tom Hardy) is the movie references they drop.
Some might snark that in the way of Shrek, quoting movies like Thelma & Louise, Swingers, and E.T. the Extraterrestrial is a lazy shorthand to laughs. Admittedly, it’s absolutely hilarious to hear Hardy’s Venom voice boom with excitement, “You look so money and you don’t even know it!” A zany thrill of recognition ignites when he explains that more alien beasts are coming their way by saying of a chirping xenophage, “She phoned home!” And maybe most of all, there’s a giddy delight in hearing Venom and Eddie refer to each other as Thelma and Louise as they bicker about their next move.
Sure, there are some superficial similarities in each allusion. Venom and E.T. are both aliens who befriended humans. Thelma and Louise were also a dynamic duo prone to violence and determined to get out of their situation by hook or by crook. And Swingers, like part of Venom: The Last Dance, is about two best bros living it up in Las Vegas. But more than these ties, it’s what these references suggest about Eddie and Venom that makes my heart sing.
They must have movie nights!
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
