Flawed But Has its Moments
Summary
I don’t think anyone expected Kraven the Hunter to be an amazing movie (and it isn’t) but it certainly has some entertaining action scenes with some brutal kills; Aaron Taylor-Johnson looks the part and Russell Crowe chews the scenery. There are some subpar visual effects and shockingly bad dialogue at times too making this one you can wait for to hit streaming. Considering there were 7 people in the cinema with us then it looks like everyone already is waiting for Netflix….
Plot: Kraven’s complex relationship with his ruthless father starts him down a path of vengeance, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
Review: Reviews have thus far been unsurprisingly unkind to Kraven the Hunter, the latest (and final) entry in Sony’s (sorta) Spider-Man universe. I haven’t even bothered with Madame Web yet, but I’ll maybe check it out for sheer curiosity someday. I’m watching Venom: The Last Dance tonight and will review that in the next few days, but I don’t think anyone will be too upset to see the end of Sony’s failed universe. I usually try to put a positive spin on any movie I watch as I know making any film is never easy, but you also have to be honest at the same time.
Although I didn’t hate Kraven the Hunter I do think that the reviews this time were accurate. I was actually surprised at how some of Kraven was as bad as it was especially in terms of the dialogue. At one point a character says “After that trip my grandmother died, and I never saw her again”. Yes, that’s usually how death works. Did AI write this?
I’m not sure what Alessandro Nivola was trying to achieve as The Rhino, but at times he was hilariously over the top especially with that silent scream moment or whatever the Hell that was. The CG Rhino at the end wasn’t the greatest either and this looks and feels like a movie that should have come out 15-20 years ago.
I did like Aaron Taylor Johnson and I think if he does ever get the Bond gig he will be good at it, but this really wasn’t the best example of his talents. He does the best with what he’s given and is totally jacked. Russell Crowe even with a dodgy accent is always good value and is never less than magnetic any time he is on screen.
The film is a tale of fathers and sons with Crowe playing a crime lord called Nikolai Kravinoff who wants his son Sergei (Johnson) to take over from him some day; he sees his other son Dmitri (Fred Hechinger) as weak and generally treats him like dirt on his shoe. After a lion attack Sergei decides he’s had enough of his dad and disappears to become Kraven the Hunter. This isn’t really anything like the comic character who is a major Spider-Man villain and we don’t see him in the proper costume until the final scene of the movie. We do get to see characters like The Foreigner, Chameleon and Calypso which fans may or may not enjoy.
On the action front, although there is a bunch of CG there are still plenty of brutal R rated moments with the highlight being when Kraven goes all First Blood on a group of goons in the woods; at one point throwing a bear trap at one dude’s face. There are some decent kills and stunt work too especially the car chase which was awesome.
Overall, Kraven the Hunter is hardly a disappointment as I had little to no expectations, but despite its flaws it does have some entertaining action scenes and Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a beast in it. Russell Crowe also shines as the scenery chewing gangster, but you can wait for streaming to see this.