Kraven The Hunter – A Hopeful End To A Tiring Universe

Evidently clear from Morbius, Madame Web, and the Venom films, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (or SSU) appears completely aimless in scrounging together a cohesive universe, interesting characters, and competent writers to complete simple origin stories for anti-heroes converted from Spider-Man villains. DC has proven through Joker (2019) and The Penguin that compelling villain stories can exist in a medium that doesn’t spin the narrative in making audiences sympathize with these characters, but instead showcases the complexity behind their journeys that allows everyone to come to their own conclusions. 

Kraven the Hunter encapsulates the typical flawed formulas found throughout all of these entries. The absence of a nuanced background, character motives, and proper reasoning to get viewers engaged in the story will inevitably be a consistent failure from the jump, as the film charges head first into its jumbled mess like a rhino. Every entry drops audiences straight into the deep end, as if one is supposed to roll with the punches when it is apparent that even the writers have zero knowledge of basic screenwriting etiquette, with assumptions that no real effort was made to research the source material. An abundance of generic tropes through elements of police procedurals, medical dramas, and military conduct are riddled throughout these films as replacements for this deficit superhero storytelling. This film, in particular, provides no explanations for the nature of Kraven’s powers, emotions, tactics, or any semblance of his motivations throughout the film.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a comfortable fit for this version of Kraven as the polarizing reception of his various roles fits with the type of success of this franchise, providing the clunky delivery and uncharismatic presence that can be found in Godzilla or The Fall Guy. Certain benefit of the doubt can be given to Johnson and rest of the cast as the infamous ADR issues that plagued Madame Web return, which may skew performances towards circumstances out of their control. The SSU’s growing reputation of audiences laughing ironically at inadequate filmmaking will certainly continue here through the grade school writing, jarring visuals, and dull action scenes. While the inclusion of an R-rating makes for some surprising moments across the film’s minimal action scenes, it never embraces the opportunity to go all in. As a result, for a film that desperately needed some inkling of spice to help audiences survive through much of the same boredom and mediocrity this universe has plagued cinemas with through its previous entries, it marked a real missed opportunity.

As if previous entries did not already have difficulty in incorporating a singular antagonist, the film poorly juggles the inclusion of multiple antagonists who often show up in and out of the story, causing major pacing and continuity issues. Russell Crowe’s performance as Kraven’s overbearing father Nikolai, and his thick Russian accent, helps to make his scenes tolerable and mask the insufferable dialogue he is given. Meanwhile, Alessandro Nivola’s attempt at Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino is the epitome of how incompetent a creative team can be at writing a character that does not have even the slightest bit of unintended cringe. When finally turning into the Rhino in full form, the film’s careless attempts at VFX are on full display through a nightmarishly jarring design that can only be described as a mix between Handsome Squidward and a rejected Harryhausen cyclops.

To summarize, Kraven the Hunter makes minuscule changes to the formula in an attempt to maintain attention from tired audiences. For better or worse, these efforts are far too late for people to start caring as the film reportedly marks the end to the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. While humor can be found in being involved in the irony of these productions, it is no longer acceptable for us as audiences to support creative teams that aren’t willing to respect the demographics they are appealing to, especially when there is an abundance of incredibly talented, and more deserving, filmmakers who are already struggling to get their passion projects made. For those Kraven for a good time, audiences will be left hunting for a better film this holiday season.

still courtesy of Sony Pictures

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Costa Christoulas

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