These have been consistently messy, almost willfully bad movies, but Hardy’s performance has been a strangely compelling one-body buddy comedy. It’s one thing to throw a cape on and jump the sky. It’s another to run manically through the desert with an alien voice inside barking,

Alison Willmore of Vulture is one of many critics who take direct aim at the multiversal nature of Knull as a villain — in a movie where Hardy's character says he's "done with that multiverse shit," no less — and how much his muddled exposition and one-note storyline rules detract from the mindless enjoyment that feels more like its true element.

Things have not been going well for Sony Pictures and its Spider-Man Universe (SSU) lately. "Morbius" with Jared Leto received several Golden Raspberries, Hollywood's negative awards. "Madame Web" with a listless Dakota Johnson in the lead role received scathing reviews.