After 6 (mostly awful) films, Sony’s Spiderverse is finally coming to an end with the release of Kraven the Hunter. The release of J.C. Chandor’s superhero tale was already tainted by the recent release of the lackluster Venom: The Last Dance (2024), with it being assumed that this film would follow suit, continuing the franchise’s penchant for lackluster filmmaking.
The initial promotional materials released were certainly promising, looking like Chandor had created the first decent Spiderverse film. It’s not like Chandor hadn’t impressed audiences with his previous features, with the likes of A Most Violent Year (2014) and Triple Frontier (2019) showing his talent for smart, adult thrillers. Judging by the trailers it looked like he was bringing those talents to the Spiderverse, especially when it was revealed that Kraven the Hunter would be the first entry to carry an R rating.
For a while, it was really looking like Kraven could be the one to break Sony’s streak of awfulness, but alas this was clearly not to be. It is certainly not the worst entry of the Spiderverse, but it shares most of the same issues, with an awful script, poor CGI and subpar action scenes. Worst of all, it wastes a quality cast, the majority of which work hard against the material, but at the end of the day they can only do so much with what is on the written page.
We are only introduced to Taylor Johnson’s Kraven in the opening moments of the film before we are flashed back to his teenage years when he was still known as Sergei. Here he is played by 22 year old Levi Miller, sharing no resemblance whatsoever to Johnson either in looks or in character. After the suicide of his mother, Sergei is taken on an African safari by his abrasive and abusive father Nikolai (Russell Crowe). It is implied that Nikolai is the real cause of his mother’s suicide but he dare not raise the issue.
Accompanied by his half brother Dmitri (Billy Barret until Fred Hechinger takes over the role in the present scenes) as well as Aleksei Sytsevich (Allesandro Nivola) who has paid to take part in Nikolai’s safari. During the Safari, Sergei and Dmitri come into contact with a lion. Rather than running, the young Sergei almost seems to have a connection with the beast. That is until his father intervenes and shoots the lion. At this point Sergei is attacked and somehow his blood mixes with that of the animals, which along with a magic potion courtesy of a young girl called Calypso (Diaana Babnicova) gives Sergei special abilities, such abilities that give him the strength and courage to leave his father behind. This also means he has to leave his brother behind as well.
Years later Sergei has become Kraven the Hunter, an infamous vigilante who hunts down criminals. Remaining in touch with Dmitri, he travels to London to visit him for his birthday. After some festivities, Dmitri is kidnapped by a team of mercenaries hired by Aleksei Sytsevich, who holds a serious grudge against Kraven and Dimitri’s father Nikolai. In order to save his brother, Kraven contacts the now adult Calypso (Ariana DeBose) for help. Since they last met, Calypso has become a high powered lawyer, with her using her connections to track down who was responsible for Dmitri’s kidnapping.
Through his quest to rescue his brother, Kraven will find out the real reason he is being targeted and that it could put him on a collision course with those closest to him.
There have been multiple attempts to bring Kraven to the screen throughout the years. Sam Raimi had intended to include the character in his proposed 4th Spider-Man film. Obviously that film never came to fruition, just as Marc Webb’s plans to include the character in a planned third Amazing Spider-Man film didn’t either. Even Ryan Coogler apparently showed an interest including the character in his take on Black Panther (2018) before realizing that the rights to the character were held by Sony. With all these plans and anticipation for the character, surely the filmmakers should have come up with something better than this.
While watching Kraven the Hunter, part of me wondered what attracted J.C. Chandor to the project. Obviously the fact that it was a high profile commercial vehicle must have been an attractive prospect for the director, but the finished project is mostly devoid of the qualities he has brought to any of his previous features. There are the odd decent character touches peppered throughout, giving the idea that Chandor was aiming higher than the norm. Unfortunately, the completed film just has too many issues to be classed as anything other than a disappointment.
The only compliment I can give it was that it wasn’t boring. I suppose this is more of a backhanded compliment as what was holding my attention was to see if the film would get worse, and if my suspicions that the script was created by Chat GPT were correct. I can sometimes forgive a poor script in an action movie as long as the action involved is off a high standard, but the filmmakers even fumble this.
The opening action set piece had me intrigued, with Johnson infiltrating a Russian prison to assassinate a high powered target. It works as a decent introduction to the character’s special abilities and the level of violence the film will have. It was a good indication of how the action would hopefully unfold, but sadly the remainder of the film doesn’t live up to this promise.
A mid-movie chase, where Kraven tries to stop his brother Dmitri’s kidnapping, is the film’s stand out set piece. Other than this, the majority of the action scenes are lacking, with the action being incomprehensible due to how it is shot and cut together. I can understand when striving for a PG-13 there is a leaning towards the use of the old shaky-cam and over editing as it helps obscure the violence and makes it easier to achieve the desired MPAA rating. There’s no reason for that here though, with the film leaning into its R rating in terms of blood and gore, but even so the action takes no advantage of this with each of the film’s action scenes being cut within an inch of their life.
It is hard to fathom why and how Sony keeps getting this franchise wrong. The likes of Madam Web (2023) I could kind of understand why the film didn’t work, but unlike that film Kraven has a lot going for it. Firstly, they cast a more than competent actor in the lead role, with Aaron Taylor Johnson already proving his action credentials in the likes of Kick-Ass (2010) and the more recent Bullet Train (2022).
With those roles mentioned, Johnson had something to sink his teeth into, playing characters with a bit of depth and nuance. He isn’t afforded the same luxury here, with this variation of Kraven being mostly devoid of any personality. Considering the rich backstory the character has in the comics, for some inexplicable reason it has been mostly left out or altered. This version of Kraven has very little similarity to the one that Stan Lee & Steve Ditko created.
Johnson does what he can in the role, with it at least giving him an opportunity to show off his physical attributes. It is obvious that Johnson put serious time in at the gym, with the film never missing out on an opportunity to show him with his shirt off. However, in the screenwriters’ attempts to make the character a hero rather than the villain (at a push anti-hero) he is portrayed as in the comics, he has been mostly robbed of any personality. What is clear is that Johnson can lead an action movie which will come in handy if those James Bond rumors are believed. At least a role like Bond would allow him to not only show off his physical skills but potentially allow him to stretch himself as an actor.
The lackluster script also affects the majority of the supporting cast as well. Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose doesn’t get a great deal to work with here, with her being given some atrocious dialogue to work with. It shows her talent that she is able to rise above it. At least she isn’t slapped with the thankless girlfriend role, with her even coming to Kraven’s rescue later in the film when he faces off against Christopher Abbott’s The Foreigner (another wasted opportunity).
Then there’s poor Allesandro Nivola who is given the thankless task of bringing famed Spider-Man villain the Rhino to the screen. Now Nivola has proven countless times to be a quality actor, with him co-starring in one of my all time favorites, Face/Off (1997). Any nuance or subtlety he showed there is missing from his performance in Kraven. All those who laughed at Paul Giamatti’s take on the character in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) will be possibly changing their minds when they see how he is portrayed here.
Utilizing some absolutely shocking CGI, the reveal of Rhino actually had me laughing out loud rather than being a shock as the filmmakers’ intended. The other issue, especially if you are a comic book fan, is the decision to make Rhino the film’s main villain, whereas all past iterations either in comic book form, animated or through video games have shown him to be an idiot.
The only actor that makes something of an impression is Russell Crowe, chewing the scenery with aplomb as Kraven and Dmitri’s father, feared gangster Nikolai. The relationship between Kraven and his criminal father is one of the more interesting aspects of the film, an aspect the filmmakers would have seen fit to lean more into rather than focusing on the battle between Kraven and Rhino.
Actually, Crowe embodies the Kraven from the comics much more than Johnson does. Like the comic version of Kraven, Nikolai is only interested in the hunt. Perhaps in his prime it’s the kind of role that may have been offered to Cowe, but this is just wishful thinking at this late stage in the day. Any time Crowe is on screen the film seems to come alive, but unfortunately his screen time is limited.
While I didn’t have high expectations for Kraven the Hunter I had hoped that it would at least buck the trend. I went in knowing that it wouldn’t exactly be faithful to the comics but hoped that it would at least be an enjoyable B movie actioner. No such luck. Although it is certainly a B movie actioner I can’t honestly say that it was enjoyable.
Being the lowest grossing entry yet in Sony’s Spiderverse, it has been announced that Sony has finally made the wise decision and pulled the plug on the this universe. Let’s hope they make an even smarter decision and sell the rights back to Marvel. However, being how Sony has acted in the past I don’t think it will be as easy as that. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Amy Pascal and Sony once again try to flog a dead horse.
Plot: 1.5/5
Acting: 2.5/5
Action: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
