“Kraven the Hunter” is the latest film in what seems to be an unfortunate streak of box-office flops for Sony’s Spider-Man villain movies. On a budget of over $100 million, Kraven’s debut made $11 million domestically in its opening weekend — the worst-grossing movie of any Marvel-Sony film ever.
“Kraven the Hunter” is an R-rated action film that follows the supernaturally strong protagonist, Kraven (Aaron Taylor Johnson), as he slaughters hordes of crime lords and mob bosses who illegally hunt animals. Ironically, Kraven is the son of a mob boss, Nikolai (Russel Crowe), who tries to make Kraven his successor. Kraven’s murders lead to an unintended consequence, which he then has to rectify.
The Kraven portrayed in the movie sharply contrasts with the source material. In Marvel’s comics, Kraven is obsessed with hunting the deadliest “game” in the world, a fixation that eventually leads him to hunt Spider-Man. His desire to kill Spider-Man motivates him to team up with fellow Spider-Man villains, including the villain of the “Kraven” film, the Rhino.
The film opens, however, with new material to give Kraven a hero’s identity. Kraven is transported to a state-of-the-art prison in Russia, where some well-placed shots initially inspire hope. He plans on hunting the “real villains,” those who illegally hunt animals, while incarcerated, and there’s an authenticity to the scenes that the plot quickly loses.
As the film progresses and Kraven leaves Russia, the dialogue switches to English, a shift that signifies the beginning of the movie’s downfall. Unimaginative, bland and downright corny dialogue becomes increasingly noticeable, dragging the movie to inconceivable lows. The film’s reported reshoots and rewrites force viewers to sit through flat conversations.
Viewers will also quickly pick up on the cheap, low-quality appearance of the CGI scenes. The Rhino (Alessandro Nivola) is almost hard to look at because of his character’s cartoonish appearance. Fake blood and distasteful gore are present in absurd quantities during action scenes, looking completely unrealistic and coming across as underwhelming compensation for the movie’s poor special effects.
Unfortunately, the cast’s acting fell through at multiple points throughout the film. In addition to the dreadful dialogue, the actors’ deliveries were uninspired and unenthusiastic. Worst of all, for a movie with such a big budget, there was an embarrassing scene in which the characters’ audible words didn’t match their mouth movements.
Another travesty in the film was the overuse of Russian stereotypes. All the Russians were either tough — never showing emotion and always fighting — drinking vodka or talking with dramatically thick accents. Kraven’s father, Nikolai, is a culmination of all three. In his scenes, Nikolai discusses how “the strong” are the predators and how “the weak” are the prey. The only moments he’s not droning on about predators and prey are when he’s chugging vodka like it’s cold water on a hot summer day.
On the positive side, the action scenes are the standout parts of the movie. The fight choreography and sufficient practical effects in hand-to-hand combat allow viewers to enjoy the action scenes despite the terrible CGI of the main villain lurking.
Kraven was the last flop that Sony could handle. After the abysmal box office performance, Sony announced the cancellation of their Spider-Man villain Sonyverse. The movie remains an unfortunate train wreck, marking the demise of the Sony Spider-Man villain Universe, for better or worse. Kraven now joins the ranks of “Morbius” and “Madame Web” as the films that exacerbated the downfall of the Sonyverse.