KRAVEN THE HUNTER – The Hunt is On… But is That a Good Thing?

KRAVEN THE HUNTER is directed by JC Chandor. The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe.

Sergei Kravinoff and his brother Dmitri are taken to the wilds of Africa by their crime lord father Nikolai, where they are expected to learn to become hunters and strong men. During a hunt gone wrong, Sergei is wounded by a lion, his life saved by a mysterious potion he’s given by a native girl, which gives him superhuman abilities. As an adult, Sergei, having taken on the moniker of Kraven the Hunter, sets out to rid the world of poachers, gangsters, and anyone else causing unnecessary destruction and hardship in the world. Reuniting with the girl who saved him as a boy, Kraven’s skills are put to the test when his brother is kidnapped by a mysterious villain known as the Rhino.

Seriously, Sony. Just sell the Spider-Man rights back to Marvel. Your attempts at a “Spider-Man Adjacent” Cinematic Universe to cling to and keep the character are, put simply, not good.

I came into KRAVEN THE HUNTER with high hopes. The R rating looked like it could be promising, and it would be nice to see Aaron Taylor-Johnson try his hand at another Marvel character since he basically got the shaft playing Quicksilver in the MCU. Would this be the movie that changed my mind about this “kinda sorta” Spider-Man Universe that Sony/Columbia has continued to shell out for the past six years?

KRAVEN THE HUNTER is certainly a mixed bag, but it’s easily the best of those six films. That doesn’t make it a great film or award worthy, though. I did appreciate the R-rated take on the character; this is the most violent comic-based movie in years, and Taylor-Johnson’s performance and the action sequences aren’t half bad, but the movie is tonally confused and a bit of a mess with too many plot points, villains, questionable editing, bad fake Russian accents, and of course, trying too hard at the end to set up a sequel starring another Spidey baddie (though ironically the movie has no mid or post-credit sequences). A great comic book movie this ain’t, but there are worse ways you could kill two hours.

I’ll give KRAVEN THE HUNTER credit for starting out in fine form. The opening sequence, involving Kraven’s jailbreak from a Russian prison and murdering an infamous crime lord, complete with plenty of subtitled Russian dialogue, is fantastic. It’s just too bad the rest of the movie isn’t as good as this sequence. From there, it’s pretty much every superhero and origin story trope that you can imagine, with plenty of references to Spider-Man’s world. (Hey, look! They’re reading THE DAILY BUGLE!) Sony doesn’t seem to understand that a universe revolving around Spider-Man’s rogues gallery doesn’t really work without Spider-Man actually in it.

Like the giant lion that mauls the young man who’d later become the titular hero, KRAVEN THE HUNTER bites off more than it can chew. And most of what it bites off are comic book/superhero movie cliches. Estranged relationship with family? Check. Origin of superpowers? Check. Other super-powered characters to serve as villains? Check. Teasers of more characters for a sequel/spin-off are plentiful… but does anyone actually want to see those? Based on the not-so-positive reception to these half-hearted attempts from Sony/Columbia, who clearly doesn’t understand these characters (they turned VENOM into what was essentially a “buddy cop” movie series), it’s time to hang it up.

And yet, I didn’t dislike this film. It actually delivers when it comes to the action sequence, bringing the pain quite clearly with some extremely violent R-rated sequences (I’ve been told supposedly the PG-13 movie was finished but they threw in extra violence to get it R-rated in an attempt to salvage the film, but can’t quite verify this). Taylor-Johnson finally gets a superhero role he’s worthy of, which is good after his “one-and-done” appearance as Quicksilver in the MCU. Even if other aspects of the film falter, he’s quite good in this part and convincing in the action sequences. And getting to hear his father, played by the always-entertaining Russell Crowe, pull off a Russian accent, is just as entertaining as it sounds, albeit in more of an MST3K way than an Oscar-worthy one. Do I want this half-hearted attempt of Sony/Columbia to make “Spider-Man adjacent” films to continue? Absolutely not. But KRAVEN THE HUNTER is at least entertaining, and that’s a hell of a lot more than I can say for MADAME WEB which we got earlier this year.

KRAVEN THE HUNTER is what it is. The action sequences are damn good. Aaron Taylor-Johnson gives a fine performance. But it’s got too much going on it simply doesn’t know what to do with. If you like violent action movies, you should be entertained enough for the movie’s two-hour duration, but just know that this film doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It’s entertaining and ultraviolent with cringe-worthy one-liners, and for some audiences, that’ll be enough. Moderately recommended, but you might want to wait for the home release.