Kraven the Hunter Review

Kraven the Hunter is the sixth entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) with Aaron Taylor-Johnson taking on the role of the vigilante raising hell across the criminal world.

Sergei Kravinoff (Taylor-Johnson) is the son of Nikolai (Russell Crowe), a ruthless crime lord. He survived being mauled by a lion when he was a teenager and the incident gave him superpowers. Sergei dubs himself ‘Kraven the Hunter’ and uses his powers to hunt down some of the world’s most notorious criminals. However, Seregi’s vigilantism coincides with a brewing conflict between his father and an emerging criminal called ‘The Rhino’ (Alessandro Nivola).

The SSU has been an unmitigated disaster. All the films have received negative critical reviews. Venom: Let There Be Carnage was considered the high point with a 58% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Morbius and Madame Web were box office bombs and cinematic punching bags. Kraven the Hunter is following suit because the reviews have been terrible with awful opening box-office numbers to match. It’s sandwiched between the megahit Wicked and the heavily promoted Sonic the Hedgehog 3, so it will be heading out of cinemas quickly. Recent reports have suggested that Sony is going to put the SSU out of its misery.

Kraven the Hunter did seem like it had some potential. It was directed by J. C. Chandor who had made critically acclaimed films, such as Margin Call, All Is Lost, and A Most Violent Year. He has even earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for his work on Margin Call. The screenwriters were Richard Wenk, a man who can write dependable actioners, and the Iron Man duo Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, although the rest of their screenwriting critics leave a lot to be desired.

Kraven the Hunter did have a solid start with Sergei infiltrating a Russian prison to assassinate a crime lord and the film went for a hard R-rated rating, so the violence appealed to my inner adolescent. My first exposure with Kraven the Hunter was in Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the 1990s so I have associated the character as an anti-hero more than a villain, a position that will probably annoy some die-hard comic book fans. Kraven had more chance of working as an action hero than Madame Web.

Chandor and the writers did try and give Kraven the Hunter a connective thread: the poisonous effect that Nikolai has on those around him. Nikolai only respected strength and fearlessness and he was cruel to everyone around him. Sergei ran away and honed his skills on his mother’s estate, Nikolai berated his younger son, Dmitri (Fred Hechinger) for being weak and not partaking in the family business, and The Rhino was slighted by Nikolai resulting in him volunteering his body for experimental genetic engineering. This version of The Rhino wasn’t a dumb brute, he was more of a strategic criminal, and even though his powers gave him great strength, they also caused great pain.

However, Kraven the Hunter wasn’t a maligned film without reason. The story was overcomplicated with plotlines and characters. Kraven’s mission was separate from the actions involving Nikolai and The Rhino, and they don’t converge until a fair way through the run time. Kraven was more interested in killing other crime lords.

Kraven the Hunter was overflowing with ideas. When Sergei got his powers, he had a training montage that felt like it was taken from a noughties-era superhero film. Due to Sergei having cat powers his movements brought back memories of Catwoman. The film was a victim of excessive reshoots. Sergei communicated with a woman like Agent 47 with Diana at the beginning of the film, but she never appeared again. Another plotline that disappeared was Sergei acting as a protector of nature and avenging the muskox herds that were killed on his estate. A scene where it was clear there was post-production work was when a young Calypso (Dianna Babnicova) was talking with her grandmother (Susan Aderin) and the editing avoided showing the characters speaking.

Kraven the Hunter had a talented cast and they were wasted in this film. Taylor-Johnson has shown his comic book pedigree in Kick-Ass and Avengers: Age of Ultron, yet he couldn’t score a hattrick as Kraven the Hunter. DeBose seemed like she was cast because of her Oscar nomination since the character went from being English as a child to becoming American as an adult. At least DeBose looked like she hit the gym and looked badass wielding a bow and arrow. Russell Crowe was only in the film to claim a paycheque since he has been phoning it in for a few years.

Kraven the Hunter was an improvement over Morbius and Madame Web but that was a low bar to clear. It suffered from a messy screenplay, editing, and a cast knowing they were in a turkey.