Kraven the Hunter

Executives at Columbia Pictures must have had dollar signs in their eyes when they decided to create an extended Spider-Man universe using the few Marvel characters Disney doesn’t own the rights to. The result was three Venom pictures, Morbius, Madame Web, and now Kraven the Hunter. Suffice it to say, their plan could not have been a bigger disaster.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the title character in Kraven. He’s the son of Russian mobster Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe). As a teenage boy, he was given a magical healing potion by a young girl named Calypso Ezili after being attacked by a lion. This potion has given him the skills of predatory animals, such as superspeed, leaping, and climbing. Kraven reunites with the grown Calypso (Ariana DeBose) in order to take down a poaching ring led by Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) after his brother Dmitri (Gladiator II’s Fred Hechinger) is kidnapped.

The ostensible appeal of the movie is its R-rated violence. Kraven does not hesitate to dispatch his enemies in the bloodiest manner possible, including attaching a bear trap to a man’s head. Okay, so it goes beyond most Marvel fare in that department. Without a good story or interesting characters, none of the “thrilling” kills mean much. Kraven’s backstory is boring, as is the predicable conflict with his father. Calypso is severely underdeveloped, meaning that her motivation for wanting to bring down Sytsevich rings hollow. Partway through the film, Christopher Abbott shows up as a mysterious figure who can hypnotize people for several seconds. The source of his powers is never satisfactorily explained, nor is Sytsevich’s ability to turn himself into a rhinoceros. Many plot elements feel randomly generated.

Insipid dialogue does nothing to enliven the proceedings. Poor Ariana DeBose – an Oscar winner, mind you – is forced to deliver what may be the two worst lines of 2024. One is “I never asked you to kill someone. I’m a lawyer.” The other is “She died not long after that and I never saw her again.” Gee, Calypso, do you typically see people after they die?

Kraven the Hunter plods along with this sort of nonsense, never quite figuring out how seriously to take itself. Is Kraven a merciless predator or a guy with quirky animal abilities? Even the performances are inconsistent. Taylor-Johnson seems like he’s trying to make a serious superhero flick, Crowe carries on as if he’s in The Godfather, and Nivola portrays Sytsevich as an often-comical figure with an exaggerated personality. In fact, the latter comes off as if he knows the material is garbage and is winking at the audience. He certainly isn’t a menacing villain.

Kraven the Hunter was directed by J.C. Chandor, an ambitious filmmaker whose previous work includes Margin Call, All Is Lost, and A Most Violent Year. While I can’t fault him for taking a paycheck job, Chandor demonstrates none of the savvy plotting and character insight that marked his prior efforts. The direction here is leaden, with scenes going on too long and offering too little. Action sequences pale in comparison to other recent comic book movies.

Supposedly, this is the final planned installment of the extended Spider-Man universe. A dud series wraps up with a major dud. How appropriate.


out of four

Kraven the Hunter is rated R for strong bloody violence, and language. The running time is 2 hours and 7 minutes.


© 2024 Mike McGranaghan