It's been my assumption that directing a movie must be a pain in the tuchus. Most new or unknown Directors lack the freedom to create a film from their mind's eye, because first the Producers believe in simple formulas to make a movie "good", Directors don't generally know the history of their subject matter (if it is a film about an already developed character), then of course the actors need direction, so much so that you must be able to communicate your wants effectively, and lastly some actors think they know it all and interject themselves in the writing process. Without spoiling the movie; some of these are evident within 'Let There Be Carnage'.

Watching the movie, I think the audience noticed how quickly the movie seemed to be over. It was granted a meager 1:30:00 of film time, which leaves a lot of footage on the cutting room floor. The action is well paced, all though unnecessary & campy in some parts. I believe it's the result of Andy Serkis's direction, as he seems to enjoy big visuals more than plot details ... I defer to his other films as well. There's very little effort in character building as new recruit Shriek (played by Naomie Harris) was the plot coupon, as she was necessary as the motivation for Cletus Kasady (aka Carnage), but essentially irrelevant to the viewer. I like Naomie - I remembered her from '28 Days Later', Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and the film 'Moonlight'. She's a very good actor, but here she isn't given the room nor depth to shine. It was odd seeing someone of her talent demoted to the background.

Overall I found 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' funny ... I'd rather an October release provide some scares, and I know this could have done that, but I honestly don't believe Andy Serkis can bring characters to life with his current directorial views. I may be wrong. There may be a 'Venom 2: The Director's Cut' sitting around like a Snyder Cut just waiting to be released. I found most of the action scenes to be long and unfruitful, like putting all your eggs in one basket. It ended quickly and left me feeling like this should have been a short story - A 3-minute feature to simply tie-in the upcoming Marvel Universe release of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' - This had a great setup for a really good Halloween treat and I'm completely dissatisfied because somebody really dropped the ball here.