The third and supposedly last movie in the series is based on one of Spider-Man’s most famous archenemies, Venom: The Last Dance neatly concludes the year-long misadventures of the alien symbiote Venom and his unfortunate human host, Eddie Brock.

Tom Hardy returns Eddie/Venom for the third outing, joined by some familiar faces such as Peggy Lu’s Mrs. Chen, as well as some new faces, most notably Rhys Ifans and, in a slightly confusing twist, Chiwetel Ejiofor. No, he’s not Mordo in the movie. Aside from a funny opening sequence that hints at dimension-hopping, there’s nothing multiversal about it. Chiwetel plays a general this time, with a very pragmatic and direct approach to dealing with symbiotes and their threats to humanity.

So it turns out that somewhere in the vastness of the universe is the creator of the symbiotes, waiting for his release from his eternal prison. His creations rebelled against him and locked him up. Details are sketchy, but he was a pretty unsavory character, and they put him away and threw away the key.

Except, they didn’t, not exactly. And now the symbiotes are being tracked and hunted, all the way to earth.

There’s no treading new ground plot-wise. It’s a pretty straightforward film. But that's not to say it isn’t enjoyable. Because as high as the stakes are, the movie allows itself and the audience to laugh. There’s a lot of room for comedy, which one might find surprising in this kind of movie, but there it is, and it works. Mostly, the fun comes at the expense of Eddie, and aside from a somewhat cringy dance sequence that went on a bit too long, the humor in the film is pretty spot on.

A lot of human interest stems from the interaction of Venom and Eddie. A love-hate, buddy-cop relationship between them recalls Bad Boys or Lethal Weapon, where two characters who don’t necessarily jive well are forced to work together to get the job done. And even after the smoke has cleared, they get along but aren’t always on the same page. It is a far cry from the iconic Marvel comic villain, but somehow, it does well on screen. Well, enough for three movies.

There are no announced plans for follow-ups but with this movie looking to make a good showing at the box office, there’s always room for a fourth.