Kraven the Hunter

“Man who kills legend becomes legend.”

Bloody, boorish, and unremarkable, Kraven the Hunter is yet another Sony spin-off misfire that’s shallowly written, shoddily paced and sadly misunderstands its source material delivering a bland but surprisingly cohesive narrative with solid action set pieces that still can’t salvage the Sony Marvel franchise. 

Discussion Points:

In terms of quality, this is the best Sony Spider-Man adjacent film. Has some decent visuals and doesn’t look like it was shot on a potato, solid action that’s unique and memorable, and enough of a clear story that it feels contained and cohesive. Does it still suffer from much of what has plagued Sony’s other films - oh yeah…. Noticeable ADR, clear re-shoots and changed plot points, unfortunate miscasting, clear misunderstanding of the audience and source material etc. It’s not that Aaron Taylor-Johnson is bad, it’s just Kraven isn’t meant to be a redeemed ecowarrior - he’s meant to be more like his father, played by Russell Crowe - cruel and dangerous and vicious. Fred Hechinger is having a heck of a year, and honestly he’s great here until a very dumb conclusion. Ariana DeBose is having a terrible run and needs a new agent after Wish, Argylle and now this. Alessandro Nivola and Christopher Abbott are fun and memorable and seem to be enjoying themselves, even if they are so shallowly written. But I’ll be honest, I didn’t hate this. I didn’t enjoy it. But it’s the most competent Sony Marvel film. Which means it’s boring and plain and meh. Which is almost worst. At least I could laugh at Madame Web. I’m certainly not craving anymore Kraven.