Venom 2 is almost half an hour shorter from the first film, but it doesn’t mean it’s lesser of a movie than 2018’s Venom. Venom: Let There Be Carnage will have a 90-minute runtime according to director Andy Serkis. The first Venom film clocked in at 1 hour and 52 minutes. Serkis says, Venom 2 is a “thrill ride” that doesn’t waste any time getting to central conflict between Venom (Tom Hardy) and the deadly antagonist Carnage (Woody Harrelson).
In an interview with IGN in an Instagram Q&A before the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe spin-off lands in theaters on October 1, Serkis explains why Venom 2 is shorter than most superhero films to date.
“It was actually always going to be [leaner]. We always wanted this film to be a real thrill ride. And a fast, muscular [movie] … not hanging around too much with exposition,” Serkis said. “But having said that, I think what we’ve done is achieve a real balance between dropping anchor with all of the characters so that you feel that you’re fully immersed in them and that we’re not just rushing through to the next battle or action part.”
Venom 2 was written by Kelly Marcel from a story she wrote with Tom Hardy. Let There Be Carnage was planned to “get Carnage into the story at a certain point, and [they] didn’t want to linger too long before that happens.”
But according to Serkis via Comicbook.com, Venom 2 is a “love story” between symbiote and host. “By the same token, what’s at the heart of this movie is a fantastic relationship between Eddie and Venom,” explained Serkis. “And so we didn’t want to kind of rush through that.”
It’s when serial killer Cletus Kasady bonds with the red symbiote, that’s when we’ll see some vicious symbiote versus symbiote action.
Finding that balance for Venom 2 was “about really nailing the tone, so that it always felt that the comedy was being supported by real emotion and pathos and real feelings,” Serkis said. “You get sucked in. Like, once Carnage comes to life, Eddie is then hiding to nothing to get there and trying to track him down. So it had its own internal sort of energy and pace that you couldn’t escape.”
Venom: Let There Be Carnage stars Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, and Stephen Graham. Marvel and Sony’s Venom 2 debuts only in theaters on October 1, 2021.
