“Kraven the Hunter” (2024) is the sixth and final film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU), but not the worst of the franchise or even 2024, which consisted of three films: this one, “Madame Web” and “Venom: The Last Dance.” After having major daddy issues and a near death experience, Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) retreats to the Siberian wilderness to kill criminals who hunt majestic animals. He cannot leave his past behind and returns to London to visit his little brother, Dimitry or Dima (Fred Hechinger), who is still under the intimidating shadow of their father, Nikolai (Russell Crowe), a Russian crime boss. Sergei calls himself Kraven, but those who fear him dub him The Hunter. Some on Kraven’s naughty list team up to stop him from completing his mission to protect themselves. How will they find and stop him?
This review is not for comic book fans who are familiar with the original lore. Those people are not going to like this movie and judging by the reaction of other reviewers in the screening, will be audibly upset. “Kraven the Hunter” has something for everyone…to hate. The movie’s ingredients are solid, but it adds up to a soulless, joyless affair that will make you wonder whether a cast of solid actors were ever good. Taylor-Johnson seems to have more professionally in common with his character in “The Fall Guy” (2024). He has the physical assets for the character, including an impressive six pack, but when he is not fighting, Sergei is uninteresting. Some actors like Michael Fassbender can transcend the material, but Taylor-Johnson is not one of them. He is not the reason that it is bad, but he does not have the charisma to make it work. It took Tom Hardy three movies before the light left his eyes. Did Taylor-Johnson ever have that spark? Report back for “Nosferatu” (2024) to find out.
Think of Kraven as Dr. Doolittle meets Tarzan and Beastmaster with animal powers. Keep him fighting, and it is watchable, but barely, even with some vicious kills. It feels vaguely familiar instead of awe-inspiring and magnetic like most of the MCU. There is a dissonance with the way that he interacts with the world and his demeanor. He is a ruthless, unrepentant proud killer who just delivers wise cracking one liners. He is a big lug who just happens to throw bear traps on people’s heads. It tracks….not. Also the first couple of times that Sergei avenges animals after poachers slaughter them, it is fine, but with those powers and lack of moral qualms about murder, he really should be more proactive and kill them before they kill the animals. What are you waiting for?!?
“Kraven the Hunter” starts in the present day before flashing back sixteen years earlier to reveal how he got his powers, and it creates the unfortunate impression that the passing of time had zero effect on their character development. It feels more like the next day in terms of action and maturity just in adult bodies. A teenage girl (Diaana Babnicova) just received the responsibility of protecting her family’s legacy, a healing potion that bestows physical prowess and animal abilities. Unfortunately, if you trust a kid with that power, she will give it to the first boy in danger, and that boy is little Sergei (Levi Miller). What a waste! As an adult, Calypso (Ariana DeBose) does not get smarter with age when she becomes a black clad lawyer with an excellent taste in jewelry. At least she is not a journalist or a cop like most lady sidekicks, which does not include the off-screen airplane pilot on Sergei’s payroll who is only a disembodied voice. In theory, it should be exciting for a superhero to finally get paired with a Black woman who he permits to enter his secret life and is a potential love interest, but there is zero chemistry, and DeBose’s line delivery is so bad that it is easy to forget that she was ever considered a great actor. Sergei praises her for her knowledge of the criminal underworld immediately after he realizes that it was a set up. She is not good at anything, and hopefully DeBose’s payday was worth sacrificing her reputation.
Crowe is a highlight in “Kraven the Hunter,” but it would be nice to have some insight why he goes all out and sports a Russian accent for this role, but as the Spaniard in “Gladiator” (2000), he did not even bother, but no one cared. He literally does not have to put in the effort that he did. Who decided? He imbues some naked emotion as the domineering father who wants one of his sons to follow his footsteps because he is lonely and scared and wants someone to rely on and have his back. It was an unexpected pathos to bring to a character who seems like a hasty sketch version of the irredeemable villain in “Tenet” (2020), which Kenneth Branagh played straight in a two-dimensional way. Even without comic book knowledge, when Nikolai describes one character as a chameleon, it is easy to think, “Oh, will he become a villain later?” Crowe is a highlight, but he is not the standout.
Christopher Abbott is on the board as selling out for money with “Kraven the Hunter” and the upcoming “Wolf Man” (2025), but without sacrificing excellence as the Foreigner, an assassin with a grudge against Sergei and his own special set of powers which makes him a formidable foe who could easily defeat Kraven. Abbott generally sticks to artsy fartsy fare in critically acclaimed films like “Possessor” (2020) or “Sanctuary” (2022), and his transition to commercial paydays has not negatively affect his performance. Too bad that the writers Richard Wenk, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway did not make him the big bad. Wenk has done good work with such films as “Vamp” (1986) and each installment in the cinematic “The Equalizer” franchise. Marcum and Holloway’s best credit was for “Iron Man” (2008), but their lesser work dominates their collaborations: “Punisher: War Zone” (2008) and “Men in Black: International” (2019).
The Foreigner seems to most inspire Oscar nominated director J.C. Chandor, whose best work is “All Is Lost” (2013), to try and make an effort in a sequence reminiscent to the climactic scene in “Monkey Man” (2024). Chandor’s goal is to be the Terrence Malick of SSU with characters relationship to nature. On the other hand, Chandor made Abbott and Hechinger seem smaller than they are as if they were deformed and had smaller shoulders like children. When it intially happened to Hechinger, whose character is described as weak and framed as vulnerable compared to the other men in his family, it worked, but when applied to The Foreigner, it was off-putting. It felt intentional perhaps to play up Sergei’s bulk and other characters like the real villain. The CGI animals are so fake looking that if you are choosing a movie based on creature quality, choose “Werewolves” (2024).
The big bad is the underwritten, needy and desperate Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola), aka The Rhino, who gives the initial impression of an awkward, flat-haired geek whom the cool kids like Nikolai shoot down. He later becomes a close cropped, tight white shirt clad man with the long sleeves folded to end just under his biceps while wearing a bookbag. Wardrobe really has a thing for folding sleeves up as opposed to short sleeved because Dimitri sports the same styling choice except the blazer comes along for the ride. For those unfamiliar with Nivola, he is a great character actor who will be appearing in the best movie of 2024, “The Brutalist,” and Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, “The Room Next Door” (2024), but no one would believe it after some odd, unintentionally, counterintuitive creative choices. At least, he tried. The Rhino is a snooze of a villain. What is the point of having a caravan of henchmen if they are not trained to not hit you with your car when you transform so you fight them too and wreck your property. A house divided. No wonder no one wants to be his partner.
Unlike Nivola, Hechinger is having a good year and will not lose any credibility. “Kraven the Hunter” will not hurt him because he has not lost the ability to disappear in such roles as the grandson in “Thelma” (2024) and Harper in “Nickel Boys” (2024). While he does not set the world on fire as Dmitri, it was nice to know that he was not as dysfunctional as Emperor Caracalla in “Gladiator II” (2024). The role is not so memorable to be used against him.
“Kraven the Hunter” is also too long. At two hours seven minutes, it is a tiresome, familiar slog that will not leave you excited, and it is a relief to know that the final scenes that shamelessly tease a sequel will not come to fruition. The final scene is laughable as Sergei tries on a lion skin coat and gawks at himself in the mirror. Ben Stiller would use the same physicality for laughs. There are no post credit sequences so don’t bother to stay after the credits begin to roll. What a sad end to a franchise that at its best, with “Venom” (2018), was fun, but at its worst, with “Morbius” (2022), was a complete waste of time. If you must watch a R rated Marvel movie, stick to the official MCU and see “Deadpool and Wolverine” (2024).
