Sony has tried repeatedly to create a cinematic universe adjacent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It has failed every time. Kraven the Hunter is yet another failure from Sony, to the point where you have to start wondering how Sony continues to mess up this badly. Just like Morbius and Madame Web, Kraven is a soulless return to the early aughts when scripts and character development took a backseat to mindless action.
The cast of Kraven the Hunter is actually somewhat impressive. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Sergei Kravinoff aka Kraven), Fred Hechinger (Dmitri Kravinoff aka Chameleon), Alessandro Nivola (Aleksei Sytsevich aka Rhino), and Russell Crowe (Nikolai Kravinoff) all seemed to put a lot into these roles. Unfortunately, the script is so void of emotion and character development that their performances aren’t enough to lift the film in any significant way.
Like many of Sony’s other recent Marvel endeavors (aside from the Marvel Studios-produced Spider-Man films), Kraven is only loosely based on the comic book character of the same name. The backstories for Kraven, Chameleon, Rhino, Calypso (Ariana DeBose), and the Foreigner (Christopher Abbott) are all different from the comics. The film doesn’t bother to explain the Foreigner’s powers, or even show any of Calypso’s powers (making her almost a completely different character).
In the comics, Kraven is actually a very intricate character. He has a sordid past with his half-brother and father, something that is only subtly touched upon in the film. Had the film focused more on that family relationship, it would have offered a much deeper, character-driven movie compared to what was released. Instead, the film rushes to the finish line, ignoring any character development along the way.
Sony proudly touts the fact that Kraven the Hunter is rated R. While there’s a bit of language, and a modest amount of violence, the R rating is poorly utilized. Most instances of graphic violence are “blink and you’ll miss it” moments that have minimal impact on the scene, or the movie as a whole. That’s not to say Kraven needed to double down on violent scenes, but the graphic violence in the film is so unimpactful that the movie could’ve been rated PG-13 with nothing of significance changing in the process.
Kraven’s problems are almost identical to what plagued Morbius and Madame Web. The writing is just plain bad. While the first version of the script was written by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer 1-3), it was then considerably rewritten by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, the same duo responsible for Uncharted, Men in Black: International, Transformers: The Last Knight, and Punisher: War Zone. They also did the first Iron Man movie, but looking at the rest of their filmography that seems to be a fluke.
Why Sony would trust its Marvel-adjacent films to the writers of the worst Men in Black and Transformers films is something we may never understand. Although, considering the current Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures is the same person who refused to greenlight Deadpool for over a decade (now the highest grossing R-rated franchise of all time), it almost makes sense why these films are so bad.
If you were one of the 15 people who enjoyed Morbius or Madame Web, perhaps you’ll find something to like in Kraven the Hunter. For everyone else, this is an easy pass, and a waste of talent. Perhaps Sony will finally learn its lesson and either allow Marvel Studios to handle these films, or just hire good writers to craft the scripts. Until that happens, Sony will continue to lose money at the box office.
About Kraven the Hunter
Synopsis: Kraven’s complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff, starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
Director: J.C. Chandor
Writers: Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Richard Wenk
Stars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Fred Hechinger, Ariana DeBose, Alessandro Nivola, Russell Crowe
Rated: R
Runtime: 2 Hours, 7 Minutes
Bryan Dawson has been writing professionally since the age of 13. He started his career as a video game writer and has since worked for Random House, Prima Games, DirecTV, IGN, AOL, the British Government, and various other organizations. For GNN, Bryan taps into his passion for movies.
