Kraven the Hunter Movie Review – Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s First Hunt Is Thankfully His Last

Director J.C. Chandor urged fans to give Kraven the Hunter a chance and to not judge it based on Sony’s Spider-Man Universe’s mixed bag of dog fleas. He didn’t say anything wrong with this statement, and he’s right. Every person should judge a film based on what it is – not what anyone thinks it will be. Well, his movie is here, it’s been watched, and the good news is it’s not the worst SSU movie of the year (hi, Madame Web). But oh boy, this makes Morbius look like The Dark Knight in comparison.

What’s Kraven the Hunter even about? That’s a good question and the search party is still looking for the answer. This smorgasbord of a script ignores canon like it’s a ’90s comic book movie that loathes its source material. In this movie, the origin of Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is that he’s mauled by a lion, and a young Calypso saves him for reasons known only to the scenes on the cutting room floor. He develops superhuman abilities and defies following in his father’s Nikolai (Russell Crowe) criminal footsteps. Instead, he prefers to tear apart the bad guys with his bare hands until one day, the man known as Kraven the Hunter becomes the hunted.

The movie combines all the worst traits of Sony’s comic book movies

Look, the script doesn’t give a hoot about the story, and neither should anyone else. This movie makes no sense as logical loopholes exist around every corner and characters get stuffed into this movie as if Sony wants to beat Mortal Kombat: Annihilation‘s record of how many pointless figures it can fit into one film. Take Christopher Abbott’s Foreigner as a classic example. Abbott commands the screen and proves to be a much more interesting antagonist than Alessandro Nivola’s ham-and-cheesy Rhino; personally, he delivers the best performance out of everyone in this ensemble. Yet, when all is said and done, Foreigner doesn’t need to be Kraven the Hunter at all. His arc could have been removed entirely and shaved 20 minutes off this film that feels every single one of its 127 minutes.

There’s a 100% chance that this script suffered from corporate meddling. It stinks of it in the bipolar tone and yoyoing of character importance. It’s also easy to pinpoint the exact moment in which everyone gave up on the film and accepted that the SSU is dead and buried. It’s like Sony closed its eyes, tapped into the spirit of all its superhero misfires over the years – Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Morbius, Madame Web – and doubled down on every single mistake to go out with one last big bang. Seriously, there’s a moment in the film where it looks like Kraven morbs.

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Aaron Taylor-Johnson might have just tanked his James Bond chances

While there are a few gnarly kills in Kraven the Hunter, it’s impossible to take anything seriously when Aaron Taylor-Johnson runs on all fours. It looks silly and laughable in hindsight – as if this is the Cats of comic book movies. The action scenes fare far better when the focus remains on the natural elements rather than the supernatural ones. That said, the CGI used to recreate the various animals shines – except for its use in bringing Alessandro Nivola’s Rhino to life. This version makes Paul Giamatti’s oversized Rhino in a mechanical tin can appear like a Picasso in comparison.

The most surprising part about Kraven the Hunter is Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s presence in this drivel. Before news of Kraven being an actual thing came out, he was linked with becoming Batman. Heck, he’s even supposed to be a major contender for the next James Bond. Yet, a film like this can only damage the momentum of such a talented performer. It’s not that he’s bad in the movie, but everything else around him is. When the script arrived and he was told he would need to run around on all fours and develop cat eyes, he should have fired his agent on the spot.

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Is Kraven the Hunter worth watching?

The fact there were only three people in the press screening for Kraven the Hunter says it all. No one cares about this movie. Right now, the SSU possesses a stench that sends every fan running in the opposite direction. It also proved that if you’re gonna call it the Spider-Man Universe, well, you kinda need Spider-Man to be in it at some point. Unfortunately, Kraven the Hunter is what everyone feared from the get-go: A movie about a Spidey villain that didn’t need to be a movie. It doesn’t roar; it goes out with a miserable whimper.