Kraven The Hunter Review: Falls Prey to Poor Storytelling

RATING - ⭐⭐ 2/5*

KRAVEN THE HUNTER REVIEW MOVIE TALKIES:

Kraven The Hunter is the sixth and final film in Sony's Spider-Man universe, and what a weak film it is. The SSU never really reached a level that could capture attention; instead, most of the movies were panned by critics and audiences alike. Kraven is the last chapter, and I suppose that's a good thing, as we won't have to see any more films from Sony's lackluster cinematic universe. This standalone film doesn’t stand a chance, even for a moment, and it bores you with its preachy storyline and monotonous characters, whether they are the protagonist or the antagonist.

The film begins with child Sergei Kravinoff being attacked by a lion but saved by a girl named Calypso, who possesses a supernatural serum from her grandmother. The serum heals Sergei, but it mixes with his blood along with the lion’s blood, transforming him into an animalistic and powerful hunter, Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). He abandons his half-brother, Dmitri (Fred Hechinger), and father, Nikolai (Russell Crowe) to find his own way. Our antagonist, Aleksei (Alessandro Nivola), a Russian machinery with rhinoceros features, hunts Kraven and kidnaps Dmitri. Kraven teams up with Calypso (Ariana DeBose) to find his brother and rescue him from Aleksei.  

Kraven The Hunter features a poorly written script, as the plot is both outdated and dull. The screenplay makes it even more tedious, causing you to lose all interest in the film. Almost the first hour passes, and you still don’t see a single action-packed sequence. There is no love story developed between Kraven and Calypso, and Rheno's backstory is only verbally explained towards the end. One of those supporting villains with mind tricks appears more menacing than the main antagonist; however, the poor writing has him finished off in just one shot by Calypso, using the archery technique she learned during summer camp. The overall execution is disgraceful and uninteresting like this, so you can imagine how disappointing the final face-off between the hero and villain would be. 

Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the lead role of Kraven, who confidently calls himself the greatest hunter in the world, but there is not a single scene to support that claim. His action scenes are dull, his expressions and body language do not work, and his persona does not resemble that of a superhero or the greatest hunter, as he calls himself. Ariana DeBose hardly gets any scenes to shine as the leading lady and Kraven's love interest, but as I mentioned earlier, there is no scope for her character. Fred Hechinger was decent, Russell Crowe did not live up to his standard, Alessandro Nivola did not send chills down my spine as the reckless antagonist, and Christopher Abbott was merely adequate. The rest of the supporting cast goes unnoticed, as expected.

The visual effects of Kraven are of low quality, and that is truly disappointing. I mean, superhero movies are all about visual effects, and this film fails in this major aspect. In the final scene, when all the rhinos were running amok, it all looked so cartoonish. Aleksei's Rhino version had an even lower-quality VFX than Sam Raimi's Spider-Man from the 2000s. The sound design and cinematography did not support the film at all, resulting in a low-grade cinematic experience. J.C. Chandor has not made as bad a film as it seems, but the story, screenplay, performances, and technical aspects let him down big time. You can sense how scenes are cut short and feel incomplete; it is definitely a problematic product, even in terms of editing. I wish it had never been made, and I wouldn't have to waste my two hours on New Year's afternoon watching and reviewing it.

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