- KRAVEN THE HUNTER
- Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana Dubose and Russell Crowe
- Directed by: J.C. Chandor
- Rated: R
- Running time: 2 hrs 7 mins
- Columbia Pictures
Our score: 3.5 out of 5
Sometimes the Marvel Cinematic Universe is confusing. The majority of films based on Marvel Comics characters are all related in some way to others, seamlessly stringing along a story that has stretched for decades. “Iron Man.” The Tom Holland “Spider-Man” series. “Doctor Strange.” They all go together like another piece in a giant jigsaw puzzled. However, for every one of those films, you have characters like Deadpool, the X-men and Howard the Duck, whose films are basically stand alone stories, though Howard the Duck does make a brief appearance in the coda of the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” film. Add to the latter list “Kraven the Hunter,” best known to comic fans as Spider-man’s foe. Not here though.
Sergei and Dimitri Kravinoff (Levi Miller and Billy Barratt) are two young men attending a posh private school in upstate New York. One day they are informed that their father will be calling on them. Soon a long, black car pulls up. The boys get in. Their destination will change both of their lives forever.
As I always note when I’m reviewing a comic book film, the only ones I read as a kid were Batman and Superman. I knew Spider-Man from the Saturday morning cartoons, but I was, and still am, much better versed in the D.C. Universe. So not only wasn’t I aware of Kraven’s Spider-Man association, I didn’t even know he was a comic book character. That being said, he’s pretty darn cool!
While on safari with his brother and father, a Russian bad guy brilliantly portrayed by Crowe, Serfei is attacked by a lion and dragged away. A young girl, whose grandmother has provided her with a special potion that heals anyone who drinks it. She gives some to the badly mauled Sergei, who is rushed to the hospital. He survives, but he is now more animal than man. He is a hunter.
Action packed from beginning to end, “Kraven the Hunter” is an unapologetic film where the nastier they bad guys fall, the happier the hero becomes. Taylor-Johnson, who starred as the title character in “Kick-Ass” and gave an amazing performance as the young John Lennon in “Nowhere Boy,” is excellent here as the now-grown Sergei, who spends his days tracking down the worse of the worse and dispatching them to hell. Younger brother Dimitri (Fred Hechinger) is more a lover then a fighter, earning his living as a lounge singer and disappointing his hard-ass father. Hechinger seems to be attracted to these roles, having recently appeared as the less-then-tough Emperor Caracalla in “Gladiator II.” Oscar winner DuBose does what she can with an underdeveloped role as the mystery girl who saved Sergei’s life, now all grown up.
But most people don’t go to action films for the acting. They go for the action, and this film is packed with it. Director Chandor sets a frantic pace and the cast keeps up with it.
On a scale of zero to five, I give “Kraven the Hunter” ★★★ ½