Sony Pictures
KRAVEN THE HUNTER
Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven), Ariana DeBose (Calypso Ezili), Fred Hechinger (Dmitri Kravinoff / The Chameleon), Alessandro Nivola (Aleksei Systsevich / Rhino), Christopher Abbott (The Foreigner), and Russell Crowe (Nikolai Kravinoff) with Levin Miller (Young Sergei) and Billy Barratt (Young Dmitri)
Directed by JC Chandor
Produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and David Householter
Written by Richard Wenk with Art Marcum and Natt Holloway
Music by Benjamin Wallfisch, Evgueni Galperine, and Sacha Galperine
Distributed by Sony Pictures
Run Time: 2 hours and 7 minutes
World Premier: December 13, 2024, in the United States
Opening Weekend Box Office: $11 million (North America)
Worldwide Box Office: $62 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 15%
Marvel Entertainment
Fun Kraven the Hunter Facts
Kraven the Hunter was created for Marvel Comics by Sran Lee and Steve Ditko, debuting in The Amazing Spider-Man # 15 in 1964. Kraven is traditionally a Spider-Man villain and is best known as a character for the critically acclaimed Kraven’s Last Hunt storyline written by JM DeMatteis and published in 1987.
Filming on Kraven the Hunter commenced on March 22, 2022, in London, England and lasted until mid-June. Kraven was originally set to release on January 13, 2023, but was ultimately delayed for almost two-years with reshoots taking place during that time.
Kraven the Hunter was the first film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe to be Rated R. This is basically due to the graphic violence in the film.
The star of Kraven the Hunter: Aaron Taylor-Johnson previously portrayed Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Avengers: Age of Ultron. The character was frequently alluded to and even briefly featured, portrayed by Gabriel Gurevich and later imitated by actor Evan Peters in the 2021 Marvel Studios Disney+ series WandaVision. Despite the MCU Multiverse being at play in 2024, Kraven is not a Multiversal Variant of Pietro.
In Kraven the Hunter, Russell Crowe portrays Kraven’s father Nikolai. Crowe previously portrayed Zeus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Love and Thunder. Despite the MCU Multiverse being at play in 2024, Nikolai is not a Multiversal Variant of Zeus.
In Kraven the Hunter, Alessandro Nivola portrays the Marvel Comics supervillain Rhino; another familiar for of Spider-Man. Rhino previously appeared in Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, portrayed by actor Paul Giamatti. The two Rhino characters are not one in the same.
Kraven the Hunter was the sixth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, launched in 2018. It (presumably) takes place in the same Cinematic Universe as Venom (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), Morbius (2022), Madame Web (2024), and Venom: The Last Dance (2024). Kraven the Hunter‘s 15% Approval Rating on Rotten Tomatoes ties it with Morbius for the 2nd worst score of all the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe films, ahead of only Madame Web (11%). All three of those films are amongst the worst scores in the history of movies based on Marvel properties, joining the likes of 20th Century Fox disasters such as Elektra (11%) and Fant4stic (9%).
Kraven the Hunter was the least-grossing film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. It’s mere $62 million lands it behind Madame Web ($100 million), Morbius ($167 million), Venom: The Last Dance ($478 million), Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($506 million), and Venom ($856 million). Each Venom film made more than Sony’s other three SSMU films combined. Due to the critical and financial flops that were Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter, Sony Pictures reportedly decided against moving forward with their Sony’s Spider-Man Universe beyond 2024. It is unknown whether or not any of the characters will reprise their roles within the MCU as The Multiverse Saga comes to an end with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Sony Pictures
My Venom: Kraven the Hunter Review
Traditionally, I like to begin these reviews with a plot recap, but I can’t really do that here, because Kraven the Hunter isn’t a movie that is driven by any sort of plot or flowing narrative. It is instead two hours of stuff happening. What is this movie about? I can’t say, and that’s only the beginning of the negative things that I have to say about this movie.
Before I go any further though, let me get this one positive out of the way: Aaron Taylor-Johnson was great as Kraven! He got himself into remarkable physical condition and he seemed to really be trying throughout this film, which is more than I can say for anyone else. He looked the part aesthetically, he got the physicality of the character right, and he successfully made Kraven a sympathetic character despite all of his murdering. I would have no problem at all with Taylor-Johnson someday suiting up as Kraven in the MCU and opposing Spider-Man, though I seriously doubt that will happen.
So, yeah, back to the (non) plot. Stuff happens. A lot of stuff. A young Kraven gets bitten by a mighty lion and their blood mixes, and Kraven actually dies for 3-minutes, but he is brought back to live by a special serum administered to him by a young girl named Calypso, who is fascinated with tarot cards and such. After recovering from his injuries, Kraven runs away from home, fleeing from his Russian gangster father and adoring little brother and basically living in the wilderness amongst the animals. He regularly kills poachers and boasts superhuman strength, speed, and agility, as well as a healing factor. He seeks out Calypso, reunites with his father, and then finds himself involved with a crime boss known as Rhino, who got the name because, well, he received special treatment from a special doctor and now can turn into a rhinoceros. Another character called The Foreigner is involved as well. He can count to three and cause time to stop … or become invisible … of something. It’s never explained or expanded upon. Anyway, Rhino kidnaps Kraven’s brother and Kraven sets out to save him and we get Kraven vs The Foreigner and Rhino and there are lots of deaths and wild animals running around and in a quite ridiculous turn of events, Kraven kills Rhino by puncturing his skin, which was shown earlier in the movie to be bulletproof. With Rhino dead, Kraven realizes that his father had arranged for Rhino to abduct Kraven’s little brother all along and in retaliation, Kraven allows his father to be mauled by a bear. Kraven then reunites with his little brother, only to learn that he too has gone to that aforementioned special doctor and has himself gained special abilities that allow him to shapeshift … he is the Chameleon now and he now hates Kraven and all that he stands far. The movie ends with Kraven opening a gift from his late father which allows him to at the end of the movie, suit up and take on the appearance of his comic book counterpart. The end.
This movie sets up a future rivalry between Kraven and The Chameleon that we will never see. We will also never see Kraven share the screen with Venom or Morbius or The Vulture, or whoever else was supposed to comprise Sony’s Sinister Six team. With this film, Sony remained too focused on setting up future projects instead of simply telling good stories, but the sins of this film go way beyond that.
There are so many horrible performances in this movie. I have to openly wonder if anyone other than Aaron Taylor-Johnson was even trying? Russell Crowe was wooden and uninteresting. Calypso was wooden and uninteresting. The Foreigner was an all-time comic book movie bad sort of awful. His entire inclusion felt pointless and dumb. Rhino was awful (there is this one scene where he just stands there making weird noises after someone tells him something that he doesn’t like … he’s just sort of clicking and this may have been worse than dancing Emo Tobey in Spider-Man 3, or Matt Smith’s horrendous mirror scene in Morbius. It was BAD and the whole character was bad. He never felt intimidating or interesting either, and when he finally turns into the Rhino to fight Kraven, it feels entirely anticlimactic and visually horrible.
Then, there is the dialogue. It’s so very bad. Characters repeatedly say dumb things, and the writing is absolutely embarrassing. A few things are laughable, but they weren’t written to be. It’s just so dumb that it’s funny. I will also add that this is unequivocally one of the most BORING Marvel movies I have ever watched. The action scenes are few and far between and the flashback to childhood is overly long. In fact, the whole movie is overly long. Kraven the Hunter isn’t exciting, it isn’t intriguing, it isn’t captivating. It isn’t dramatic, it isn’t funny (in the right ways), it isn’t well-acted or well-executed, and it just isn’t interesting. It may be the worst Marvel movie I have ever watched, though I’m not sure if this was as bad as Madame Web or not. Frankly, I’ll probably never know, because I doubt that I will watch either of those movies ever again to form a conclusive opinion.
Unless they are actually going to start making movies based on Spider-Man that actually have Spider-Man in them, I really hope that Sony will just call it a day. I don’t think it was ever a good idea to make a bunch of films like that in the first place. Did we really need a Madame Web movie or a Kraven movie or even a Morbius movie? Were those characters ever interesting enough to carry a feature film? No. They’re supporting players, even in the comics where their characters are usually defined by the heroes they oppose long before they become interesting enough or popular enough to star in their own solo series.
I don’t see the wisdom in this experiment in the first place, but the financial success of the Venom movies cannot be denied, nor can some of the stellar casting choices Sony made. Tom Hardy was gold as Edie Brock / Venom. Jared Leto was just fine as Morbius. Aaron Taylor-Johnson was a great Kraven in a bad Kraven movie. However, the repeated fumbles on things like narrative and dialogue and camp are just too much to forgive. The rational side of me believes that no one sets out to make a bad movie, but things like Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter, parts of Morbius, and even a few things in the Venom movies make me seriously question whether or not that’s true. Funny scenes don’t work if they’re not funny. Scary scenes don’t work if they’re not scary. And Spider-Man movies don’t work without Spider-Man in them.
I honestly cannot recommend this movie and that sucks for Aaron Taylor-Johnson because he put a lot of effort into this, and it sucks for Marvel as a whole because I freaking love Marvel and I want every project to be a hit. Sadly though, this just isn’t that.
Sony Pictures
Highlights of Kraven the Hunter
Aaron Taylor-Johnson Did His Best
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