Kraven the Hunter may have brutal and gory R rated action and a scene stealing turn from Ariana DeBose, but the latest and final film in Sony Spider-Man Universe is truly one of the worst comic book films ever made due to a horrendous script, poor ADR and a dull story that wastes the good casting of Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the titular role.

 

Ever since its debut in 2018, the Sony Spider-Man Universe films which don’t actually feature Spider-Man but infamous villains he has squared off against in the comics turned into heroes, has been a mixed bag to say the least. From the entertaining Venom films thanks to Tom Hardy’s wonderful performance, to the so bad it's funny morbin time of Morbius, or the horrendous Madame Web that premiered earlier this year that is a guilty pleasure early 2000s-esque superhero film, quality has not been a strong suit of this series of films. While it was critically panned earlier this year, Madame Web is suddenly not looking so bad when compared to the long delayed Kraven the Hunter which is finally releasing and proving that it is in fact a real film. With Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the lead role, who is the right cast choice on paper, almost everything else goes wrong and delivers one baffling comic book adaptation that questions how director J.C. Chandor made such a terrible film.

 

If you are looking for a generic, paint by numbers superhero origin story for a character that is actually a villain, look no further than Kraven the Hunter. After a decent opening action sequence, we segway for approximately thirty minutes to an extended flashback sequence where the origins of Kraven’s powers are somewhat explained. The fractured family unit is introduced with an uncaring father, one scared child, and one who is willing to run away and live in a forest on their own instead. Never mind the hilarious fact that every member of the Kravinoff family seems to have a different accent that truly confuses whether they are Russian, Russian-British or American. After this introduction, we are back to the present for a predictable action thriller plot line full of weak villains, an entire plotline that despite the film telling you that Kraven is a terrific tracker involves Kraven getting someone to do his tracking for him, very little explanation of anything the audience is actually interested in, and an ending twist so obvious its painful to see the audience treated by the script writers like they are that unintelligent for not coming to that logical conclusion. There are zero character arcs, no emotional hook to the story, and the CGI is truly some of the worst of the year which makes the entire film feel fake. Pile on a script full of clunky dialogue that is at times so awkwardly delivered that it induces unintentional bursts of laughter from viewers and stretching it out to a two hour run time, you have the worst comic book film of the year or one of the year’s best unintentional comedies. It’s your choice how you choose to view the film.

 

For as much as Kraven the Hunter gets wrong, there are some bright spots. The heavy R rated violence splats blood across the screen with some adrenaline fueled sequences that utilizes the film’s rating and lets Taylor-Johnson unleash the inner beast within Kraven. These moments reach their full potential during the film’s final act in a sequence involving multiple bear traps, which will result in cheers as they are used to gruesomely take out Kraven’s adversaries. And, as she is in every film, Ariana DeBose is spectacular as Calypso. There is a reason DeBose has an Academy Award this early on in her career, as she truly understands the roles she takes on and how the characters she portrays fit into the larger structure of the film, and she fully understands the assignment she has in Kraven the Hunter. Delivering some of the film’s best and most ridiculous lines with a vigorous energy, DeBose is a force to be reckoned with on screen as she tailors her performance to the film she knows she is in, fully embracing the ridiculousness and playing it as fun as she can, unlike her cast mates who take everything too seriously. Even with the atrocious ADR replacing her dialogue where her lips are not even synching up with words she is speaking, you can’t fault DeBose for a second as she is the only one who seems to know what this film actually is, though she may need a better agent as she has had a few stinker films recently.

 

It's hard not to appreciate Taylor-Johnson in the titular role, as he has undergone his superhero transformation to become this infamous Spider-Man villain. He brings the rough and hardened villain to life, trying to humanize him with a sympathetic backstory and desire to hunt down evil doers in the world, and for some viewers, his ripped physique will more than satisfy them. But sadly, Taylor-Johnson feels like a victim of the film’s screenplay and fails to give a truly compelling performance as he is forced to deliver some truly ridiculous dialogue, jump around like an animal and have no real character arc of any sort. It isn’t great either that he doesn’t get to wear the comic book attire until the film’s final scene, nor get any sort of a villainous angle to tease a future run in with Spider-Man (though the screenplay loves to throw in countless and blatant references like the audience doesn’t know who this character is). 

 

As for the rest of the main cast, Russell Crowe’s Russian accent is pretty good, but he feels bored and not invested in the film at all, while Fred Hechinger seems asleep at the wheel until the film’s final scenes where he suddenly becomes an entirely new character you hadn’t seen the entire film. For better or worse, because it generates some unintentionally hilarious moments, Alessandro Nivola’s performance is largely him yelling or making strange sounds that makes for a truly abysmal villain. And Christopher Abbott as the Foreigner, I truly don’t know what he was doing in this film and I don’t think he did either.

Even though the Sony Spider-Man Universe has attracted some great talent with stars like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Dakota Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Matt Smith and Sydney Sweeney, it’s maybe for the better that Kraven the Hunter is the final nail in this cinematic universe’s coffin. To no one’s pleasure, Kraven the Hunter sadly continues to string of uninspired, poorly written and lazily slapped together films of this series with unforgivable ADR, a dull screenplay and questionable CGI that leaves a talented cast with nothing to do, while missing the memo on being fun like the Venom films and campy like Madame Web. Would it not be for the ever talented Ariana DeBose knowing exactly what she needed to do for this film and some stellar and bloody R rated violence, Kraven the Hunter is dead on arrival in almost every way imaginable that cannot even be saved by the superhero body of Aaron Taylor-Johnson.