TL;DR – An abysmal end to the Sony Spider-Man universe filled with tepid dialogue, poor action, and confused priorities.

Post-Credit Scene – Thankfully, there is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Contains themes that may cause distress.

Kraven the Hunter Review –

Well, we have come to the end of the Sony Spider-Man universe without the Spider-Man experiment. We got Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Morbius, Madame Web, Venom: The Last Dance and now Kraven. Unfortunately, there were more misses than hits, and some of those misses were a disaster. But can the final film in the experiment stick the landing? Spoiler alert: no, no, it cannot.

So, to set the scene, after the loss of their mother, brothers Sergei (Levi Miller) and Dmitri (Billy Barratt) are whisked out of school by their assorted criminal father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe). He took them to Ghana to learn how to be men by hunting. But when the lion finds them first, Sergei is attacked and dragged off. Left for dead, things looked grim until a young girl, Calypso (Diaana Babnicova), gave him a potion from her grandmother that was mixed with the lion’s blood in his system to heal him and give him powers. Escaping from the clutches of his father, Sergei, now going by Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), makes his mission to hunt down poachers and other criminals, including mob bosses hidden away in Siberian gulags.

Usually, at this point in the film, no matter how the movie went, I try and find some positive aspects to discuss, but wow, is it hard here. I saw the film a week ago, and I am still struggling. But I will say that it was clear that the cast was trying. They were given nothing to work with, but goodness were they trying. This led to one or two scenes that actually came together. Also, there is one semi-decent action scene towards the end that makes use of the stronger rating. But not a whole lot more. 

The most significant issues with the film comes from the dialogue. Ariana DeBose is an Academy Award-winning actor, and she is given some of the dullest exposition that is quite often filled with continuity issues. There are whole conversations where people talk to each other rather than have a conversation, which is honestly one of my pet peeves when it comes to cinema. I know, from a comic perspective, that people would not likely be happy with this interpretation of Kraven and Calypso, but that was personally not an issue for me. Or it would not have been if there had been some actual substance in everything.

Next, it honestly felt like there was no one managing the film, or conversely, that there were too many people managing the film. This is because there is no consistency in any of the performances. Russell Crowe is out there chewing on every bit of the scenery while Aaron Taylor-Johnson is trying to play it straight. Fred Hechinger is working in a noir thriller, while Ariana DeBose feels like they are stuck in limbo. I know people are focusing a lot on the issue with this version of Rhino (Alessandro Nivola), which I am not sure why, given that it might be the most interesting thing the film does.

Then there are the action scenes. I honestly feel bad for the stunt team because you could see them trying, but it felt like they were constantly being undermined. Part of that comes from the abysmal dialogue that just rips you out of every moment. Then, there were the effects that rarely worked. I honestly feel like the artists were not given enough time to bring it all together. One good example of this is you can tell whenever they are using a digi-double for Aaron Taylor-Johnson because all his movements become rubbery. This completely undermines the physicality that is the basis of his role.  

In the end, do we recommend Kraven the Hunter? No. There are so many better films to spend your money on. Have you watched Kraven the Hunter? Let us know what you think in the comments below. If you liked Kraven the Hunter, we would recommend to you Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Kraven the Hunter
Directed by – J. C. Chandor
Screenplay by – Richard Wenk, Art Marcum & Matt Holloway
Story by – Richard Wenk
Based on – Kraven the Hunter by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
Music by – Benjamin Wallfisch, Evgueni Galperine & Sacha Galperine
Cinematography by – Ben Davis
Edited by – Chris Lebenzon & Craig Wood
Production/Distribution Companies – Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, TSG Entertainment II, Arad Productions, Matt Tolmach Productions & Sony Pictures
Starring – Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Levi Miller, Fred Hechinger, Billy Barratt, Ariana DeBose, Calypso Ezili, Russell Crowe, Alessandro Nivola & Christopher Abbott
Rating – Australia: MA15+; Canada: 14A; Germany: 16; New Zealand: R; United Kingdom: 15; United States: R