PREMISE
Vigilante Kraven the Hunter’s complex relationship with his ruthless father starts him down a vengeful path, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world but also one of its most feared.
THE GOOD STUFF
AARON TAYLOR JOHNSON- Johnson has the makings of an action hero du jour, and he has for quite some time. I’m not going to go out on a ledge and say that this is the best performance he’s had in an action movie that he starred in… but it’s definitely the movie that has highlighted him as an action star the most. He’s proven to be such a good actor that just seeing his name on top of a Sony superhero movie should indicate to audiences that he is overqualified to be a part of it right now.
Johnson deserves his signature action superhero role more than many people who have already gotten it. He knows this, and he really tried to make this one the one. Without him, the movie would be significantly worse. But this isn’t it.
ALESSANDRO NIVOLA- In a shocking turn of events, Nivola not only gives the only fun antagonist performance in the film, but this is the best portrayal of an antagonist in the entirety of the Sony Cinematic Marvel Universe (or whatever the proper name for it is). I don’t know how arguable that is at this point.
Somehow, he finds a delectable balance between playing up the cheesy moments these Sony films are known for and giving us a solid performance as a straight-laced action movie psychopath from the 1980s. Of course, because this movie can’t let anything be too good for too long, it is absolutely derailed in the trash fire of the third act. But Nivola is having fun here. This is surprising stuff.
THE ACTION- Got to call it like I see it, this movie has the best collection of action sequences out of all of these Sony Marvel movies. By far. You can tell that that is where the vast majority of its 100-plus-million-dollar budget was focused. And it works. These action scenes play well in a Dolby theater for sure. Of course, because this movie can’t let anything be too good for too long…
THE BAD STUFF
THIS F****** CGI- If this movie were a part of any other cinematic universe involving superheroes, the CGI from this movie alone would be considered the all-time worst if it were in those universes. The thing is, this Sony Marvel Universe has been so atrocious in so many different areas for so long now that this actually deserves credit (Especially when you look at things like Madame web and morbius).
I don’t know what the bar is for CGI anymore. So many things look great that we’ve just kind of collectively accepted it, and maybe you’ve gotten a little spoiled by it. These Sony movies regularly remind you that CGI can be a lot worse than what we’re used to normally seeing.
THE FOREIGNER- Wasted opportunity. Potential to be the coolest villain in the whole movie, and there’s absolutely nothing here to chew on. Not the performance, not the explanation of his powers, and not his motive for being involved in the festivities of this film. Not to mention, he has the most boring action sequences of anybody in the whole movie. So many things wrong happening at once with this character.
THE UGLY STUFF
THIS F****** 1st ACT- What the f*** was this? Kraven the hunter for some reason is a 2 hour and 10 minute movie that could have easily, EASILY been cut by 45 or so minutes if you just took out the Foreigner character, and the lengthy flashback sequence of this first act.
What makes it even more annoying is that through the incredibly bad on-the-nose dialogue scattered throughout this film, they continuously recap the first act of the movie that you just saw. This whole 20 or so minute sequence could have been summed up into three short scenes, and we could have kept it moving. But we stay in this flashback sequence for a long ass time for no good reason.
THE OSCAR WINNER- Ariana Dubose is having a fascinating career so far: She won an Oscar for a Steven Spielberg film, and justifiably dominated award season completely. Then immediately after that proceeds to do horrendous movie after horrendous movie, one after the other (ISS, argyle, wish, House of spoils).
She has the worst dialogue and the most comically out-of-place costumes in this movie. She also plays the character with the worst backstory in a film filled with trash backstories. I want to say she’s criminally underused in everything she’s done, but this is like her sixth or seventh movie overall, and so far, she only has one good performance. Keep getting those paychecks, Miss Dubose.
************
Allegedly, this film marks the end of the Sony Marvel thermonuclear trash fire cinematic universe. (Or whatever the proper name for it is) If that is the case, it is truly a film series that should be studied. This is a film series that has gone so wildly wrong from the jump that it’s made two of the four entries into the Mount Rushmore of bad superhero films of all time. This is not a good film by any means. However, if we compare this to the absolute bull s*** that came before it from this universe, this is the bronze medal behind the first and third venom movies. And it’s practically unbearable. That’s as big a compliment as it can possibly receive from me.
Kraven the Hunter tries reeeeeally hard to be kinda okay… and fails.
KRAVEN THE HUNTER is in theaters now
