The most beloved movie franchise of all time continues (and likely ends) with Kraven the Hunter. After Madame Web and Venom: The Last Dance, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe sees its third entry this year. It’s a Marvel superhero movie that isn’t exactly stirring the masses, but the SSU has never been on the level of the MCU. When you release films like Morbius, you tend to lose some goodwill with your audience.
Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff, a big-game hunter who must fight off foes in a world of superheroes and supervillains, Kraven the Hunter is not a disaster. We’ve seen worse from this franchise. Much worse. But the bar is low and this movie doesn’t exactly clear it. Still, the film works from time to time. There are moments where the film manages to be exciting and entertaining. The opening sequence does a superb job of setting up Kraven’s abilities. He has super strength, can quickly scale walls, and moves like a predator tracking his prey. This film also makes the bold choice to go for an R rating. Some were disappointed to see Tom Hardy’s Venom movies get the PG-13 treatment, but Kraven is one of the rare superhero movies not to shy away from bloodshed.
This movie is violent, and it works best whenever it’s violent. Watching our titular character take out bad guys in a brutal fashion is a lot of fun. Director J. C. Chandor helms the action sequences acceptably for the most part. While he moves the camera, you can usually tell what’s happening clearly. He also puts the camera in a few interesting places. For example, during a stunt where a car of bad guys flips over, he puts the camera inside the car as it flips so that we can watch the flip from their perspective. When a bad guy is getting dragged to his death, Chandor attaches the camera to him. Moments like this allow the audience to feel like they’re part of what’s happening.
However, one thing to note about the action is how ridiculous it is. This is not a grounded film at all, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s fun to see physics thrown out the window as Kraven performs insane feats with his powers.
Kraven also suffers in many places. There are a few emotional threads to this story, mainly with Kraven’s relationship to his younger brother Dmitri (Fred Hechinger) and his authoritarian crime lord father Nikolai (Russell Crowe). We have a few moments of humanity between them that work fine but not enough to be compelling for the entire film.
We have another character named Calypso Ezili, portrayed by Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose. She needs another movie to use her talents because Wish, Argylle, and Kraven the Hunter are not cutting it. She is intended to be a bit of a love interest for Kraven, but these two have no chemistry. She’s one of the most boring characters in the film. She is meant to serve the story and do very little else as a person. Some of the dialogue is so terrible that DeBose cannot sell it, nor can most of the talented cast.
Hechinger has been everywhere this year, turning in performances in Thelma, Nickel Boys, and Gladiator II. His performance isn’t bad here, but his other work is superior. His character does excellent impressions of people, and while a scene meant to showcase his abilities was unexpectedly hilarious, I’m not sure if it was his intention. Taylor-Johnson meanwhile has always been great, playing good guys in Kick-Ass, Godzilla, and Tenet and bad guys in Nocturnal Animals and The Fall Guy. He can sell anything and is committed to being a menacing badass in this role, and it works for the most part. And Crowe isn’t always in good movies, but he is good in every movie. He’s a natural on camera.
One of the weakest aspects of Kraven the Hunter is the villains. We have Alessandro Nivola as the Rhino, and this performance feels like it exists in another movie. He is a formidable antagonist, even if his backstory feels very formulaic. We also have another villain who should have been cut out of the film entirely. He does not add enough to the story to justify his existence and the movie could have benefitted from focusing on Kraven and Rhino and building their relationship and conflict.
Like Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter has no shortage of horrible ADR, with a few moments that made me laugh. The pacing in the first and second acts can be sluggish at times. The movie is only fun when the action kicks in because the dialogue scenes are a drag. You don’t feel the urgency or the tension of the crime in the background, leading to a few moments feeling surprisingly dull. It can be ridiculous to watch Aaron Taylor-Johnson fight giant CGI animals, but there’s some fun, even if the writing is all over the place.
Overall, Kraven the Hunter works when it goes full on R rated action, but works the least in . . . everything else.
SCORE: 5/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 5 equates to “Mediocre.” The positives and negatives wind up negating each other, making it a wash.
Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our Kraven the Hunter review.
