Imagine, if you will, a scenario where a studio made a cinematic universe where they adapted different books of the Bible where Jesus was present in that time period, but not in the films themselves. For example, you would follow John the Baptist or Pontius Pilate, but Jesus himself would be nowhere to be seen. That’s how it feels watching the Venom films, Morbius (2022), and Madame Web (2024) as they are characters heavily associated with Spider-Man, but don’t have that character in those movies whatsoever. Although, to be fair, Madame Webb did have Peter Parker in the film, though not in a role you expect, but I digress. As usual, I’m getting ahead myself, so if you’re a little confused on the context of what I’m saying, allow me to elaborate.

For those who are not aware, Sony Pictures currently has the film rights to the Spider-Man franchise, including its villains. In order to keep those rights, they would have to put out a movie every so often otherwise the rights would revert back to Disney. Hence, they incorporate any Spider-Man character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) without negotiating with another studio. Knowing that they can’t make the same Spider-Man film over and over again, Sony decided to experiment and showcase their villains/supporting characters in starring roles with no Spider-Man in them. The latest installment in this cinematic universe stars a pretty violent Spider-Man villain, which is Kraven the Hunter. 

Despite being a Spider-Man fan, I didn’t know much of Morbius and Madame Webb as I should have. Kraven the Hunter is another one to add to the list of comic villains/supporting characters that I should know a lot about, but don’t. What I do know, is that Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is basically a Spider-Man bad guy known for his sleeveless fur jacket and having a violent nature, which would be an interesting character to flesh out in a film, but not in a standalone. Nonetheless, we now have one which I reluctantly have to review. Could this not only be a good Sony Marvel villain film but also a quality one with an R rating? As usual, let’s find out. 

In this origin story, Kraven the Hunter follows Sergei Kravinoff (Levi Miller), who, along with his half-brother Dmitri (Billy Barratt), discover from their father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), that their mother has committed suicide. Nikolai will now raise his sons in order for them to take over his drug empire and to be tough, unlike their mother who he considered “weak” because of her actions. He then takes his sons hunting in Africa and during the trip, Sergei gets attacked and carried off by a lion. On the brink of death, Sergei is found by a girl named Calypso (Diana Babnicova), who is a practicing voodoo priestess. Calypso heals Sergei with a special serum given by her grandmother, which brings him back to life. Before Sergei consumed the serum, blood from the lion that attacked him dripped into an open wound and the combination of the lion’s blood and serum gave him animalistic powers. Moments later, Nikolai reveals to his sons that he killed the lion that attacked Sergei and showed him the trophy at their estate. Disgusted by his father’s actions, Sergei runs away from home and flees to Russia, where his mother’s family owns property. Sixteen years later, an older Sergei, who now goes by Kraven the Hunter, acts as a vigilante by using his abilities to eliminate criminals and poachers. He still maintains a good relationship with his brother, Dmirtri (Fred Hechinger), who performs at a nightclub run by their father. In fact, Kraven visits him every year for his birthday, though this year would be a bit different. The night after celebrating Dmitri’s birthday, Kraven leaves him alone in his penthouse after having difficulty sleeping. This leads to Dmitri getting kidnapped by mercenaries whose boss is Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino (Alsessandro Nivola), an enemy of Nikolai after he turned down an offer to be partner. Nikolai refuses to pay the ransom as he sees it as a sign of weakness, which then leads Kraven to take matters into his own hands. He tracks down an aged Calypso (Ariana DeBose), who is now a successful lawyer, and convinces her to help find his brother’s kidnappers. Little do they know, they would also have to face off against an assassin by the name of the Foreigner (Christopher Abbott), and discover why Aleksei is called the Rhino during their mission. 

So, if I had to compare Kraven the Hunter to the other Sony Spider-Man supporting character films, it fortunately wasn’t as bad as Madame Webb and Morbius as I thought they would be. I’m purposely excluding the Venom series because it feels like it’s in its own category. That being said, Kraven the Hunter is still a deeply flawed film, but it did actually have potential to be decent, unlike the other two that I mentioned. However, that potential wasn’t executed here. 

One big movie sin that Kraven the Hunter commits was how boring it was. Just based on premise and the character of Kraven alone, it had potential to be a thrilling action film providing heavy violence and gore (not that I’m trying to relish in those themes). While it did have them, it was shown in the dullest way possible ranging from mediocre computer-generated image (CGI) shots, to quick edits that could easily be retooled if it needed a PG-13 cut. Another movie sin that it commits is turning Oscar winning actors into talentless hacks that seem fraudulent to have that their trophies. The two people that I’m referring to are Russel Crowe and Ariana DeBose. While I can slightly overlook Crowe’s performance because I’ve seen him in dozens of films before and he was told to give a bad Russian accent, Ariana DeBose got the worst of it. Her character/acting was so awful that I was wondering how much experience she has gotten in her career. Then I realized that she got an Oscar three years ago for West Side Story (2021). I’m not saying her performance in the musical was a fluke by any means, but rather that films like Kraven the Hunter will take actors and put them in mediocre roles that will make actors such as Daniel Day Lewis give a razzie winning performance. 

The only frustrating thing that came from Kraven the Hunter (aside from the bad acting from great performers) was how it blemishes a director’s name in this film. J.C. Chandor is the director of this film and while I haven’t seen the films that he has made such as Margin Call (2011), All is Lost (2013), and A Most Violent Year (2014), to name a few, they have received decent critical acclaim according to Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. Such leads me to believe that studio interreference once again has played a role in sabotaging one person’s resume for the sake of movie control.      

As much as I don’t want to give Kraven the Hunter any credit, it would be unfair of me to highlight some things that stood out in a way that had me saying, “Oh?” Take for example the character of Kraven himself. Now, if you saw the poster or trailer, you’ve noticed that the tagline of the film is “villains aren’t born, they are made.” If this seems like a big red flag or you’re getting tired of glorifying villains, don’t worry about it. While I like films like Joker (2019), though I see that a cautionary tale, I don’t like the idea of filmmakers showcasing villainous characters as misunderstood individuals who aren’t really bad guys. Instead, they are more of an antihero with some likable qualities. There’s even a quote in the film that which made me leave my seat just to make a note of it on my phone, a rare thing for me to do while watching a movie. That quote was, “I don’t hate people. I just hate what people do.” Whether or not that is a true testament to the character of Kraven himself, that line of dialogue stood out to me. In my own life, I do not hate anyone, though the temptation is there. As a practicing Catholic, I don’t ever want to commit the thought of hating anyone because of their ideas and actions as that hate could manifest into a physical action and lead me to deeper sin. While that small bit of dialogue was only a part of the film and not a lot of people will probably remember it, it’s something that I will take away from it.

Was Kraven the Hunter the worst film of 2024? Not even close. Still, it’s another dud coming from Sony films that left me more bored than frustrated, and there were frustrating moments as stated earlier. In the end, this film feels like it was made specifically made for Kraven the Hunter fans due to the fact they shove in Easter eggs that feel eye rolling. They also made references to specific characters that I had to go to Wikipedia find. I should note that this film was delayed for over a year because of the 2023 Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike that happened last year. After what I saw however, I kind of wished it got delayed further.