The latest film in Columbia Pictures Spider-man universe has arrived with “Kraven the Hunter” which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the title character.
The movie opens with a daring mission inside a prison where Kraven must infiltrate, eliminate his target, and escape from the frozen locale and this is done in a fast and brutal fashion setting the tone for the R-rated take on the character.
The film then switches gears and tells the story of Kraven’s childhood as he was known as Sergei and along with his brother Dimitri (Fred Hechinger), looks to escape the shadow of their cold, overbearing, and criminal father Nikolai (Russell Crowe).
The loss of their mother has made Nikolai eager to toughen up his boys and not act like their weak mother; especially Dimitri who he sees as soft and not capable of taking over the family business as is intended for his brother.
On a hunting trip to make them men; Sergei is seriously injured and given a potion from a fellow tourist named Calypso (Ariana DeBose) which not only saves his life but gives him enhanced speed, strength, and other abilities.
Sergei leaves his family and only stays in touch with his brother by visiting him on his birthday and allowing him to contact him on a secret phone number. Kraven spends his time defending animals from Poachers and eliminating those that he believes are dangers to society which has earned him the name “The Hunter: in certain circles.
Kraven’s latest wave sets into motion a dangerous game where key players seek to find and eliminate him and are willing to use his brother as bait to lure him out and end his threat once and for all.
What follows is an action-laden finale including a confrontation with a key Marvel villain which I will not spoil as it put a nice cap on the film.
The movie went through several release date changes but is better than I expected. The plot is fairly simple but the solid work by Crowe and Johnson as well as the cast make it stand out more than expected and while it does not hit the levels of the best MCU films, it does provide entertainment despite being slow in some areas and having a plot and FX which at time do not work as well as they could have.
If you are a fan of comic-based movies than the movie is a pleasant enough watch and should entertain enough to make it worth your while.
3 stars out of 5
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