James Berardinelli review - ** out of ****

https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/kraven-the-hunter

Entries into the so-called “Sony Spider-Man Universe” continue to disappoint. Even the best of these has not been very good and Kraven the Hunter is far from the best (it’s not the worst either, though). For those looking for silver linings, some of the fight scenes are nicely choreographed, suitably brutal, and cleanly photographed. Unfortunately, these are window dressing for a plot-by-numbers storyline that is so comic book-generic that pretty much any super-powered individual could be substituted for the title character without having to change much (if any) of the story.

Considering director J.C. Chandor’s filmography (which includes Margin Call and A Most Violent Year), there was reason to hope that Kraven the Hunter might break the lackluster streak of movies made featuring Spider-Man villains and side characters. Alas, the banality of the screenplay proved to be too much of an obstacle for Chandor to overcome. Despite the R-rating (denied by the studio for Venom and Morbius), which allows for copious bloodletting and a few scenes of graphic violence, the production fails to gain much traction. Like the rest of the non-Spider-Man Sony movies, Kraven the Hunter feels orphaned. This character has always been perceived as one of the web-crawler’s A-list enemies (Sam Raimi had planned to feature him in his unproduced Spider-Man 4 and he was an unused contingency villain for the third Tom Holland MCU film); the lack of a Spider-Man appearance creates a sense that something is missing. It remains a mystery how Sony could produce so many movies about Spidey villains without ever figuring out a way to face at get at least one of them into a battle with him.

Kraven the Hunter begins with a bravura sequence that introduces Sergei Kravinoff a.k.a. Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) as he infiltrates an isolated Russian prison and assassinates a prominent inmate. After that, the filmmakers take us into flashback territory with the movie backtracking to provide Kraven’s origin story. We learn that Sergei (played as a teenager by Levi Miller) is the prized son of taciturn crime lord Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe) and he has a half-brother, Dmitri (played by an adult by Fred Hechinger). While on safari, Sergei is mauled by a lion and dragged off into the bush. He is eventually left for dead; his dying body is found by a young voodoo priestess who gives him a potion that not only allows him to recover from his wounds but provides him with superstrength, super-speed, and near invulnerability. He breaks with his father, leaves Dmitri behind, and goes off to kill bad guys.

Years later, he manages to track down the girl who saved him. Calypso Ezili (Ariana DeBose) is now a successful lawyer based in London. It doesn’t take much convincing for her to agree to join Kraven on his one-man tour of vigilante justice. One of his next targets is Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola), but he is no ordinary villain. Thanks to a series of injections developed by an American scientist, Aleksei has developed the ability to harden his skin and grow a horn – traits that have earned him the nickname of “The Rhino.” He also has an associate, The Foreigner (Christopher Abbott), who can bend time. These two band together to learn Kraven’s identity and use his weakness – his affection for Dmitri – against him.

One of the few bright spots in Kraven the Hunter is Aaron Taylor-Johnson, whose ability to get physical is enhanced by the ease with which he can bite off a one-liner. He’s currently rumored to be in the running as the next James Bond and, based on his work here, he might be an apt choice. Russell Crowe, who brings intensity to practically every role he plays, is suitably unpleasant. Unfortunately, Ariana DeBose is miscast (although perhaps its simply that the character is badly underwritten – Calypso’s sole purpose seems to be to repeatedly save Kraven from death) and Alessandro Nivola lacks the quiet menace he intends to express.

The lack of invention evident throughout Kraven the Hunter marks it as having come into existence for purely commercial reasons. However, after being commissioned when comic book movies were the rage, it has reached theaters long past its sell-by date. The film’s lackluster ending posits a sequel but there is unlikely to be one, leaving Taylor-Johnson free to move on to bigger and better things. As for Kraven the Hunter, the advance word-of-mouth has oversold its badness. Instead of being truly awful, it’s simply mediocre, although one could argue that’s the last word a comic book movie wants to have applied to it.