by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Russell Crowe, Alessandro Nivola, Fred Hechinger, Ariana De Bose, Levi Miller
Intro:
… a fun little leopard-print action-crime flick …
Surviving on scraps is not easy. Sony has been trying vehemently to squeeze every bit of sustenance from the moss surrounding the Peter Parker-sized hole in their Marvel IP allowance, focusing everything on making the Sinister Six happen regardless of context or sense, and the results have ranged from fun-but-messy to “oh, we didn’t realise you were laughing at us”.
In 2024, they unleashed the soulless Madame Web, and bid farewell to Venom: The Last Dance; where they go from there, and whether anyone would care, is up in the air.
When graded on that curve, Kraven the Hunter’s rudimentary but mostly effective Russian mobster spin on one of Spidey’s classic rogues finds itself on decent footing. Extraneous sequel-prepping is kept to a minimum (save for a denouement that might as well have been just another post-credits scene), there’s enough meat on the bones of the reworked characters, and it’s refreshing that this actually attempts to say something beyond just smashing toys together.
A lot of that comes down to the juxtaposition of trophy hunting and masculine representation, with most of the central characters in one form or another directed by their vision of what being a man is. Fear of judgement, fear of death, fear of being perceived as afraid, all backed by the urge to beat their chest and prove otherwise. It’s equal parts Tarzan and the kind of superpowered gangster found in old Frank Miller and Jeph Loeb comics, but it follows the pedigree of director J. C. Chandor (All Is Lost, Triple Frontier) – examining the male survival instinct and the actions that result from it.
That is, when the script takes the time to actually focus on such things. Co-writer Richard Wenk is still in full Equalizer mode, to the point of squishing his usual moral greys concerning vigilantism onto the end as an afterthought, and the pacing visibly struggles with juggling all the different villains that Kraven goes up against. Credit to the performers, they’re all fun to watch, from Alessandro Nivola redeeming the Rhino on the big screen, to Russell Crowe doing another cartoon European accent, to Christopher Abbott as a combat-ready hypnotist.
The action scenes are fun, even if the animal CGI gives unfortunate Mank flashbacks. Chandor and co. make proper use of the higher maturity rating here, avoiding the toothless informed violence of the first Venom. It’s gory, it’s brutal, it’s occasionally funny in an old-school exploitation way, and while DP Ben Davis can make it seem like the MA rating stands for ‘More Abs’ when photographing Aaron Taylor-Johnson, they work well together in presenting Kraven as a convincing anti-hero. It even taps into Ghost Protocol-style imperfect movements to make Kraven credible, but not absurdly perfect.
Kraven the Hunter fits comfortably next to the Venom sequels as one of the better entries in the SSU. There’s sloppiness to be found throughout, and even its most biting comments on performative masculinity leave superficial wounds, but it’s a fun little leopard-print action-crime flick that benefits from a director, writers, and cast confident enough to attempt something a touch more substantial than the recent capeshit. It likely won’t be enough to keep the vultures from sinking their beaks into the SSU, but it’s entertaining for what it is.
