As one of the most controversial Marvel movies of all time, “Kraven the Hunter” leaves many wondering if it was the biggest failure since “Morbius.” I enjoyed the movie for its action while trying to ignore technical features like CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), soundtracks, and plot. However, once you look at those features, the movie becomes much worse.
The plot revolves around Sergi Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), later known as Kraven the Hunter, who escapes his father’s grasp after a near-death experience. He fears his fate is to become a replica of the man he despises the most, his father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe). His father is a well-known mobster and drug dealer, and throughout the film, Kraven tries to correct his wrongs. Kraven the Hunter is known worldwide as a serial killer with an infamous hit list. Once you get on it, you never get off till you die. Throughout his journey, he reunites with an old friend named Calypso and together to destroy evil. Even though the actual plot doesn’t start till half an hour into the movie, Marvel still had many hooked with the plentiful action scenes and balance between dialogue and fists.
The plot includes many mysterious items and abilities such as a magical potion of healing that heals the body and soul with a side of lion blood that gives the ability to talk to animals. In the movie, the potion was stated to have been passed throughout Calypso’s family for generations. Unfortunately, the only service their whole family provides in the story is keeping the plot moving and in the beginning and making sure it is not too heavily based on action. The ability to control animals is never really pushed on besides in the beginning and end. It rarely does anything to support Kraven in settings other than the forest he lives in. It never being somewhat helpful in the story lowers the rating vastly, from what could be a masterpiece to something worse than “Madame Web.”
The villain usage in the film is inadequate. There were plenty of characters that had so much potential, but instead, we got stuck with a man who could turn into a rhino. Even the Chameleon had potential, and we barely saw him. The Chameleon was a character introduced at the end of the film with the potential to be the main villain of an unlikely sequel. This is most likely because they wanted to use more well-known actors for the main segments. The movie not having a Marvel regular like Robert Downey Jr or Ryan Reynolds due to working on other films or needing a rest from films limited some potential. Even so, with talent like Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven, Ariana DeBose as Calypso and Russel Crowe as Nikolai Kravinoff, I expected more of the film overall.
The costumes, however, were spectacular. Calypso’s (Ariana DeBose) gold and black outfit made her stand out and look like a CIA agent. All of Kraven’s outfits are carefully thought out, including his tuxedo, prison outfit and a poetic lion coat from his father. They top it off with the detailed prisoner and guard outfits at the beginning of the movie.
The CGI, on the other hand, was substandard, from the soulless animals that jump on you for the first 20 minutes to the terrible rhino transformation that looks like a walking statue. The CGI issues are not specific to character design. Scenes involving digital effects, like action sequences, suffer from a lack of realism. An example seen in the film could be the Rhino fight meant to be the “Boss fight” of the movie. The overall fight was choppy and lacked individualism within the background, with Bison running in a circle. The background looked like you could copy and paste it and slightly move it to the left and call it a day.
The cinematography was of high quality and was best demonstrated in the forest. With the usage of backgrounds, like cities and forests, and natural sounds, like wind or talking, I felt like I was there. The polar opposite is also true. The scene where Kraven jumps from car to car trying to get his brother back is terrible. The shots aren’t smooth and there is not a single clip longer than 10 seconds. Overall, in my opinion, the cinematography is extraordinary. Just because one section of the film was bad doesn’t mean the whole film goes down with it.
Between the top-notch action and cinematography that carried the movie and the poorly paced plot, wasted cast, beautiful outfits, and terrible CGI, this movie is a money waster. If you want to see a film that provides the gore of three horror movies, this is for you. If that’s not something you’re into, save your money for something such as Captain America: A Brave New World.
“Kraven the Hunter:” ★★☆☆☆
