Rating 3/10
I know it seems like I love superhero movies because I review so many of them. But at this point, it’s really more about playing the role of cultural anthropologist and my relentless desire to review the “big” releases each week.
The Spider-Man adjacent universe from Sony Pictures has struggled to find its footing. It’s been a disappointing string of flicks tied to Spider-Man without ever featuring the web-slinger. We’ve been subjected to stories based on Venom, Morbius, and Madame Web.
Kraven the Hunter is the newest addition to the franchise, serving as the sixth and allegedly final installment. Astoundingly, it is the most wretched of the bunch—an impressive achievement for a series already mired in mediocrity.
The chronicle concerns Sergei Kravinoff (Levi Miller). Born from Russian aristocracy, he’s raised by his ruthless mob boss father Nikolai (Russell Crowe) and grows up with a close bond with his brother Dmitri (Billy Barratt). During a hunting trip, Sergei is mauled by a lion, but a drop of its blood alters his DNA, granting him animal-like abilities. As an adult, Sergei becomes Kraven the Hunter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). His relationship with his father also sours, leading to a rift that shapes his adult angst.
Years later, Kraven will target criminals while forming a rapport with Calypso, a lawyer seeking justice, portrayed by Ariana DeBose. The actress deservedly won an Oscar in Steven Speilberg’s West Side Story. It was my favorite picture of 2021, so it pains me to say this, but she delivers one of the worst performances I have ever seen from an Academy Award winner. I also blame the director, J. C. Chandor. He failed to provide the emotional context for her to adequately portray her character.
I won’t dwell on that, but only add she’s there to help Kraven rescue his brother, Dmitri, played by Fred Hechinger, who happens to be one of the hardest working actors in the business these days (Thelma, Gladiator II, Nickel Boys). Dimitri is kidnapped by Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola), a mercenary transformed into the monstrous Rhino wishing to challenge Nikolai’s empire. Kraven also battles a time-bending assassin called The Foreigner (Christopher Abbott). How and why these villains acquire these super talents is not entirely clear, but the filmmakers don’t care to elaborate, and I lost interest in trying to make sense of it.
The grim setting is further brought down by a disjointed narrative that fails to engage on multiple levels. Despite a few bursts of excitement, the account cannot find a consistent tone. It absolutely revels in gore. Kraven bites off an enemy’s nose and spits it out at the viewer during combat. Then, he relies on lighthearted quips the next. After someone asks Kraven the location of a man he has killed, he replies, “Oh, you’re standing in him.” Later Calypso calls him a “damn lunatic,” to which he responds, “Oh, you just figured that out now?” The few attempts at humor are poorly written and delivered.
Kraven the Hunter aspires to evoke the spirit of 1980s action schlock that featured macho protagonists delivering one-liners while dispatching enemies in high-octane moments. I enjoy those films. Even the lesser examples like Commando (1985) or Cobra (1986) entertain on a basic level, but not here. This plot is a mish-mash of nonsense punctuated by routine action sequences. Each one blighted by the crummiest CGI of the past 20 years (Cats [2019] is a close second) That lion attack is a comedic howler, and a shower of raining spiders appears so randomly out of nowhere that it’s equally laughable. Kraven’s primal fighting style and the powers of his adversaries are frequently on display, but the action fails to elevate a tired narrative. Kraven the Hunter sadly lacks the charm of its inspirations.
12-12-24