Film Review - Kraven the Hunter

Images courtesy of Sony Pictures. 

Kraven the Hunter is yet another attempt by Sony to expand its cinematic universe that features Spider-Man villains but not the actual web head himself, and unfortunately, it continues to fall short in almost every aspect. Directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff, the film tries to delve into the origins of one of Marvel's most iconic villains. However, much like its predecessors, it struggles to find its footing despite some fun action and the bloody benefits of an adults-only rating.

The film opens with a surprisingly competent scene that shows Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) infiltrating a prison in order to kill a crime lord, before the film decides to completely derail any momentum that scene may have built by immediately throwing us into a half-hour flashback showcasing his boringly “complex” family relationship. The narrative attempts to explore Kraven's transformation into the world's greatest hunter, but it quickly becomes apparent that the actual story itself is as lifeless as the CGI animals that populate it. The action sequences, while plentiful and often quite gruesome, show off the primal side of Kraven, but unfortunately do fairly little to make the character as compelling as he should be.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson gives a commendable performance, delivering on charisma when the movie allows him to have fun with it, but it's a tad disappointing to see his charm mostly wasted, especially from a former Kick-Ass megafan. The dialogue simply doesn't give him enough opportunities to relish in his character's animalistic tendencies, and as a result, it's hard to really envision Kravinoff as a foe of Spider-Man. The supporting characters, including Ariana DeBose as Calypso and my man Christopher Abbott playing the freaky Foreigner, also do their best with the material they’re given, but their characters are underdeveloped and forgettable, despite some cool scenes showcasing The Foreigner’s telepathic abilities.

On the other side of the coin, central antagonists in Kraven’s father Nikolai (Russell Crowe) and Aleksei Sytsevich aka The Rhino (Alessandro Nivola) are perhaps even worse served by the script, as their many appearances feel more like a waste of the runtime. Nivola’s performance is genuinely terrible, and often resulted in laughter from the audience as he hams it up and chews away at the scenery. One line in particular struck me - “You wanna know why they call me the Rhino?” - before turning into a Rhino. Bravo, Sony, 10/10 no notes.

Another of the film's gaping flaws is its over-reliance on special effects. The CGI is consistently quite awful, betraying the film's $120 million budget. This detracts from the overall experience and makes it hard to fully enjoy some otherwise decent action scenes, which is a shame because Kraven the Hunter is far more competent as an actual film than something like Morbius, while not quite delving into the full-on trash of Madame Web, nor having the star power of Venom, nor the fun of its troubled lovers angle. The climactic battle between Kraven and The Rhino is mostly just a series of punches and shoves, putting a damper on an otherwise almost-decent blockbuster.

As I watched Kraven the Hunter, I couldn't help but reflect on my experience with the Sony universe on the whole. Is it really possible that this was ever going to work? There were highlights among the dreck, that's for sure, and while the idea of setting up various villains and tangential characters without their main counterpart seems ass-backwards, I honestly think their biggest issue was a lack of commitment. Commitment to the premise of a villain movie, commitment to giving the audience an entertaining watch, commitment to even being set in the same universe.

The problem with Sony's approach is that it feels like a cash grab rather than a genuine attempt to tell compelling stories. The studio seems more interested in exploiting the Marvel brand and continuing their Spider-Man rights than in creating engaging experiences. Each film felt like a direct response to the backlash of the film before it, leaving the franchise with little in the way of a cohesive identity, and yet, they were starting to get better. It's a backhanded compliment for sure, given that Sony already had a massive hand in creating the superhero craze that exists today with Sam Raimi’s trilogy, but it is nuts to think that two decades later and we're still miles away from the standard they themselves set.

Given the box office failure of Kraven the Hunter, it's unsurprising that the Sonyverse is being sunset, with the studio looking to pour their resources into films that actually feature the webslinger - like the fourth Tom Holland film, and Beyond the Spider-verse. It's a shame that more of the entries couldn't have featured Kraven’s R-rating, especially the Venom trilogy, given their darker source material, but I suppose this family-friendly rating enabled the films to go full steam ahead for as long as they have (seriously, how did Sony release three films in the year that Marvel released just one). I guess audiences are just Kraven something different.

Follow Eli on Letterboxd, Twitter/X and Instagram.

Kraven the Hunter is screening in cinemas now. For tickets and more info, click here.

Previous
Previous

Film Review - Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Next
Next

Film Review - Anora