After the pre-release vitriol this superhero flick received online – this is way better than it had any right to be.
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe – a spin-off franchise established to showcase villains and anti-heroes from Spidey’s comic-book world – has pretty much collapsed with the completion of Tom Hardy’s Venom trilogy, and the disasters that were Morbius and Madame Web.
Fortunately, this is more palatable than the latter two and this year’s third Venom instalment.
Unfortunately, the legendary hunter is literally dead on arrival after a disastrous box-office opening. Meaning further adventures have almost certainly been killed off already. Which is a shame, because Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) could have undoubtedly been a great addition to the MCU.
In fact, Taylor-Johnson – one of the front-runners for the next James Bond – has already blessed Marvel’s Cinematic Universe once before as Quiksilver in 2015’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
He does his best here with the wooden scripting and basic storytelling – but for the most part this is watchable fare.
Bizarrely this movie actually boasts two of my favourite ‘Webslinger’ nemeses in the form of the title character – a deadly eco-predator – and the monstrous battering-ram Rhino. Sadly only the former is done justice here.
After a brutal opening in which Kraven showcases his bloodthirst for those affiliated with animal poaching, we take a step back in time to see his teenage upbringing as Sergei Kravinoff with his younger brother Dmitri – who will eventually evolve into the Chameleon (Fred Hechinger) – and his tumultuous relationship with his Russian crime lord father Nikolai (played with neck-scarf-wearing relish by Russell Crowe), who loves the thrill of the hunt.
And it’s actually on one of his father’s hunting trips in Tanzania, that Sergei is mortally wounded by an alpha lion and is brought back to life by the granddaughter of a medicine woman, called Calypso – with the aid of a magical serum that imbues him with animalistic attributes. Calypso is played as an adult by West Side Story Oscar-winning actress Ariana DeBose, but has little to work with here bar primarily running around with a crossbow.
The complex situation between Kraven/Sergei and his father plays as a dominant side-plot to the main dish of ‘the hunter becoming the hunted’ after he’s tracked down by power-hungry mercenary Aleksei (Jurassic Park 3’s Alessandro Nivola) – due to fears he’s on Kraven’s ‘wanted’ list.
Despite his own ability to turn into the super-powered, armour-skinned Rhino, Aleksei enlists the help of assassin The Foreigner (Christopher Abbott) – who uses hypnosis to disorientate foes.
This leads to a plotline that is adequately passable – led by Taylor-Johnson’s generally-solid Kraven portrayal – which has been unfairly vilified due to the background noise surrounding the film.
It offers absolutely nothing that hasn’t been done before, but does what it does competently, satisfactorily and sometimes quite bloodily. And does it with way more admirable aplomb than the woeful Morbius or calamitous Madame Web. This looks like an Oscar contender in comparison.
So despite the negative newsround – find Kraven the defended.
Rating: 3/5
Gavin Miller
Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough & Odeon Luxe Peterborough, Out Now
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Russell Crowe, Alessandro Nivola, Fred Hechinger, Ariana Debose & Christopher Abbott
Running Time: 2 Hrs 7 Mins
Director: JC Chandor
For all the latest film information & showtimes at Peterborough’s Showcase Cinema De Lux & Odeon Luxe Cinemas go to www.showcasecinemas.co.uk and www.odeon.co.uk
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