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Plot Summary: 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: Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Runtime: 2 hour 7 minutes

Main Cast:

• Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter
• Ariana DeBose as Calypso Ezili
• Fred Hechinger as Dmitri Kravinoff
• Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Sytsevich
• Russell Crowe as Nikolai Kravinoff

Review by: Samuel

There is a good movie in here somewhere. I say that because the main cast of characters (excluding DeBose’s Calypso) were actually quite good. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has nothing more to prove to me. I think he has elevated himself to being one who will give it his all so even if a movie is bad, he will not be bad in it.

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What I Liked:

That continues here- his physical transformation is beyond respectable and his commitment to the action scenes is admirable. Despite the poor writing, he still seems like a version of Kraven I could root for in different circumstance (I.e. a different movie). The same can be said of Alessandro Nivola and Christopher Abbot who play The Rhino and The Foreigner respectively. The give good performances that shine through a mediocre script and narrative. Even Russell Crowe and Fred Hechinger who fill out the remainder of the Kravinoff family give adequate performances. So the acting was actually more than decent in the film.

But the biggest thing to love is the action. This movie used its R- rating perfectly. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a theater where everyone gasped, cheered, and cringed at the same brutality on screen. There are some cool kills here- things that look like they might belong in a John Wick film. Again for his part Taylor-Johnson sells it…REALLY well. The action is so good it’s actually worth the price of admission on its own. 

What I Didn’t Like:

After the movie’s opening action scene, we are taken on a flashback to Kraven’s teenage years and see how he obtained his abilities.  This 20-25 minute section sets up the serum that gave him his power, shows off his relationship with his brother and father, takes him from New York to Africa, goes through the hunt that leads him to obtain his abilities, and shows how he developed his hunting skills. If that sounds like a lot for a flashback…it’s because it is. And this flashback encapsulates every single flaw of this movie.  It is a rushed, poorly written, poorly directed, and poorly edited film. 

I say rushed and poorly written because it is very similar to a Zach Snyder film in that nothing feels earned and it’s like the movie is just jumping from scene to scene with no exposition given, as if its in a race to get show you all there action scenes and then get you out of there. For example, Kraven meets and recruits an ally he’s never met before in about 4 minutes of movie time – how is one supposed to take a relationship like that seriously when we haven’t even had to consume it let alone digest it. You rush that set up so later when they are fighting for each other, it doesn’t feel real. It feels like strangers helping each other which has you scratching your head. Unearned in the word of the day with this one. Nothing that happens after the opening scene feels like time and care was invested and therefore you won’t care about the eventual “payoff.”

I say poorly directed simply because in this comic book movie it is difficult to turn off your brain and enjoy due to illogical thing happening. For example some extras, playing parents, lose a child at a point in the film and instead of acting like normal people and panicking, they just stand around looking confused. 

Additionally, more than several times, people have actual conversations that consist of corny one-liners and it’s not a joke. It’s like the movie forgot how actual people speak to each other.  It’s really something when you notice the small things like bad acting on the part of extras and incredibly bad back-and-forth dialogue, which falls on the director. 

Finally, the poor editing just has to do with the very bad CGI and the choppy nature of screen transitions. In the first 15 minutes you cut from Russia to New York to Africa and it’s just noticeable with the dramatic screen cuts so it’s like we’re watching multiple scenes instead of one film.