Collected from their private boarding school after the death of their mother, brothers Sergei & Dmitri Kravinoff are taken on a hunting trip to Africa by their overbearing father Nikolai (Russel Crowe). Nikolai believes that his strength comes from looking fear in the face and removing it from your life.
Of course this backfires as Sergei is attacked by a large mythical lion who carries him away. Leaving Sergei for dead the lion retreats after being confronted by a young girl on a family holiday Calypso, the granddaughter of a local mystic, uses her grandmother’s secret concoction to help Sergei live through his horrendous injuries.
Upon returning home with his father and brother Sergei, showing glimpses of what he is to become realises his father wants to start grooming him to take over the family business, a business young Sergei wants nothing to do with. Though it pains him to leave his younger brother, Sergei must leave and get as far away from his father as he can. This takes him back to land from his childhood that his mothers family once owned. It is here in the wilds of Siberia that Sergei hones his craft and takes on the moniker Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), A hunter trying to rid the world of evil by removing the very people he feels cause it the most.
16 years later Kraven returns to England for his brother Dmitri (Fred Hechinger) birthday. It is on this visit that he finally tracks down Calypso (Ariana DeBose) after she saved his life all those years ago. Calypso is a lawyer now in one of the most prestigious law firms Europe wide and Kraven offers to help her in her quest to bring more people to the justice they deserve.
Unfortunately it is in these moments that Kraven’s life of anonymity is changed forever. With the death of an international drug and arms dealer Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) is pushing to take over and has eyes for Nikolai’s business dealing also. The one thing stopping him is he is on The Hunters list and uses everything at his disposal to take down Kraven.
Kraven the Hunter is the last in a pretty average run of comic book movies from Sony as they tried desperately to expand on the Spiderman Universe. Kraven kicks the action up a notch gaining an MA rating locally. Thankfully it did as the action moments are what turned out to be its most enjoyable parts. Kraven uses his abilities such as increased speed and strength to easily dispose of his enemies and go about his task of ridding the world of evil.
Unfortunately, a convoluted story that follows the same comic book movie tropes we have been seeing for over a decade now leave very little to be excited for. Action sequences aside, Kraven fails to deliver an engaging story or any real depth to the characters. We are meant to be sympathetic to Kraven’s back story, the emotionally abusive gangster father, the pressure of being put on a pedestal over his brother and the death of his mother from suicide all combine to give Kraven this broody overview of the world where he believes he is the super hero. But not even the many references back to Spiderman and the re-introduction of the Rhino do enough to elevate this outing to anything more than a generic action flick.
Kraven The Hunter is far from a terrible movie and can easily be enjoyed if you’re in the right headspace. It is perfect for the easy night out where you don’t want to think too much, just grab your popcorn and enjoy.
Kraven the Hunter is out now in cinemas everywhere.
