At The Movies: Venom: The Last Dance out of step, Christopher Reeve docu an emotional tribute

Venom: The Last Dance (PG13)

109 minutes, opens on Oct 24
★★★☆☆

The story: Tom Hardy returns as American journalist Eddie Brock in a superhero blockbuster from Sony’s Spider-Man universe, he and his alien symbiote Venom hunted by both of their worlds and on the run.

Knull, god of the symbiotes, has escaped to earth in Venom: The Last Dance. And because Eddie/Venom hold the key to its survival, a US general (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is commanding a special operation to destroy the odd couple with the supervillain also in pursuit.

Like that is going to put a damper on their picaresque escapade. Kelly Marcel – the British scribe behind Venom (2018) and the sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) – makes her directing debut, and the trilogy capper, based on a story she conceived with Hardy, is notably a cheerfully silly road comedy of Venom pranking its hapless human host while they travel across the country.

It has Eddie riding a symbiote horse, straddling an airborne jumbo jet – “Tom Cruise made it look so easy!” he shrieks, petrified – and dancing to Abba in the Las Vegas penthouse of convenience store owner Mrs Chen (Peggy Lu), who is now a high roller.

Hardy energetically keeps up the jokey split personality dynamic. Eddie’s love-hate of his id is almost endearing.

But the Lethal Protector of this threequel is a hero further than ever from the morally complex Spider-Man archenemy of Marvel Comics.

The low-stakes adventure has nowhere to go except into the mandated comic-book action climax. It is a confusion of slimy tentacled computer-effects as Eddie/Venom, plus every character new and recurring, eventually converge on the Area 51 military base to alternately fight and turn into head-chomping beasties.

Hot take: Just as well the franchise ends here. The central duo’s goofy bromance can take the movie only so far.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (NC16)

104 minutes, opens exclusively at The Projector on Oct 24
★★★★☆

The story: Before the DC Universe, there was Christopher Reeve. This is a documentary on the premier Superman of the 1978 to 1987 films, who redefined super-heroism as a quadriplegic after a near-fatal equestrian accident in 1995 paralysed him from the neck down.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story remembers the Hollywood matinee idol almost 20 years to the day of his death in October 2004, at the age of 52.

The American actor was an avid athlete, pianist and pilot, but he had his kryptonite. The product of a disapproving father, Reeve effectively abandoned an early relationship with two kids at the height of his Superman stardom.

Then came the unimaginable tragedy. Around this incident, directors Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui construct a before-and-after dual-chronology narrative of his transformation into a passionate leading activist for the disabled.

He made his plight a national issue as one of the earliest advocates of stem cell research, dedicated to curing spinal cord injuries under his Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

There is no overstating the impact of his surprise appearance at the 1996 Academy Awards for giving an oft-unseen community a famous face.

His heroism was shared by his wife Dana, who devoted herself to his care and cause until her death from cancer 10 months after his.

The heartrending bio-doc is candid about Reeve’s failings and struggles. A vast archive of home movies plays alongside intimate interviews with his three children, while his acting fraternity Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon and, especially, the late Robin Williams – Reeve’s best friend – add loving testimonials.

It is nevertheless Reeve’s own readings from his memoir that most clearly communicate his wit, charisma, drive and hard-learnt lessons of hope and endurance.

Hot take: The late actor’s inspiring legacy lives on in an emotional tribute.