The Reel Review
A man who has developed superhuman strength and speed via a magical African serum goes on a vigilante-styled killing rampage which leads him back to his estranged Russian gangster father. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose and Russell Crowe star in this fantasy action/adventure superhero thriller based on the Marvel comic book character.
Oh Sony Pictures – you are no Marvel Studios. The film starts off well enough, but soon gets silly with nonsensical plot points, inane dialogue, dodgy CGI and Russell Crowe’s ridiculous Russian accent. The two-hour runtime from director J.C. Chandor (All is Lost, Margin Call) feels more like four.
A super jacked and lean Aaron Taylor-Johnson certainly looks and acts the part of the incredibly violent Kraven but the relationship with DeBose’s Calypso never really gels and the villains Rhino (Alessandro Nicola) and Foreigner (Christopher Abbott) feel like cheap knockoffs of other, more interesting Marvel villains. The film could have been so much better had there been a tightening of the story, better CGI and more compelling characters. Instead, it is a mildly interesting but very average film.
REEL FACTS
• Kraven the Hunter is the first Marvel movie from Sony to be released into theaters with an R rating. It has grossed $4.7 million worldwide on a budget between $110 and 130 million.
• Russell Crowe and Fred Hechinger were in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator films, Crowe as the hero Maximus in the first film and Hechinger as one of the two brother/emperors in Gladiator II.
• Kraven is Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s third Marvel character. He played Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass in 2010’s Kick-Ass and 2013’s Kick-Ass 2.
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