Major spoilers ahead for Kraven the Hunter. You’ve been warned.
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From his first appearance in the comic books 1964, Kraven the Hunter has become one of Spider-Man’s most dangerous foes, as well as somewhat of an antihero and a fan favorite. So Sony, in its somewhat desperate and haphazard way of trying to profit from anything Spidey-related, has called Kraven up to hopefully be its new franchise. Does it make the cut? Read on to find out.
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The story begins with Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) on his way to a Russian prison as an inmate. When the prison bus makes a brief stop, he takes on some of the guards. However, he’s quickly rounded up and delivered to the prison where he meets with mob boss Semyan Chorney (Yuri Kolokolnikov).
Sergei reveals he’s the fabled Kraven the Hunter, but Chorney doesn’t buy that the scary bedtime story for criminals even exists. At least, not until Kraven takes out all his guys and kills Chorney with the tooth from a tiger skin rug. Kraven escapes the prison and disappears into a blizzard. The guards think one of the frozen bodies left behind is Kraven, and they stop the hunt.
Then, the story goes back to when Kraven/Sergei was a boy. Young Sergei (Levi Miller) and his little brother Dmitri (Billy Barratt) get picked up in a limo from their boarding school in New York. Inside is their mob boss father, Nikolai (Russell Crowe), who tells the boys their mother has died by suicide. Nikolai’s disturbing lack of sympathy makes the boys both blame him. But Nikolai’s all about not being weak, so he tells them they’re going hunting.
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They fly to Ghana in Africa, where they’re joined by businessman Aleksei Systevich (Alessandro Nivola), who’s hoping to become a part of the Kravinoff crime empire. Meanwhile, somewhere nearby, a young girl named Calypso (Dianna Babnicova) plays with her grandmother’s tarot card deck. Her grandmother (Susan Aderin), a powerful hoodoo woman, teaches Calypso how the cards work and gives her a vial of a special potion, which she says will heal whoever she gives it to.
The Kravinoff hunting party finds the giant mutant-looking lion they’ve been tracking. Young Sergei pushes Dmitiri out of the way, and the lion attacks him, fatally mauling him. Calypso, who’s closeby with her parents, runs toward the trouble and finds dying Sergei.
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As the lion’s blood spills into Sergei’s wounds, Calypso gives him some of the special potion. Sergei’s airlifted to the closest hospital, but the doctors are unable to save him. Sergei lies dead for a few minutes until the potion and his newly altered lion/human DNA kick in, and he comes back to life.
The boys return to the Kravinoff mansion, but Sergei decides he can’t deal with dear old Dad and leaves, even though it means leaving Dmitri behind. Sergei travels to Russia to a patch of property owned by their mother’s family. He finds a dilapidated geodesic dome that he transforms into his new home. Sergei then gets caught in a wildebeest stampede, but amazingly, with the help of his new powers, he comes out unscathed. He later finds much of the herd slaughtered for their horns and attacks the poachers.
Cut to present day, where Kraven’s become even more of a legend after the death of mob boss Chorney. Sergei gets a message from Dmitri – who at first pretends to be their dad – showing off his talent for impersonation. He says he hopes to see Sergei on his upcoming birthday. Then Kraven intercepts a group of poachers on the property, slaughtering more wildebeests. Kraven attacks them, but one of the poachers survives and returns to his boss with the story. Turns out, though, that Kraven’s beaten him there and kills him.
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Meanwhile, Calypso (Ariana DeBose) has become a successful lawyer working in London. She gets word of the Chorney assassination and that one of her colleagues died by his hand. Kraven finds her and reveals himself to be not only the boy she saved in Africa but also the infamous Hunter, who travels the world killing criminals with his superhuman abilities.
Aleksei Systevich makes a move to consolidate some of Chorney’s empire, revealing to new potential partners his own special ability. Without a constant injection of a special serum, his skin hardens into an indestructible surface, which has given him the nickname of The Rhino. Rhino also has a new employee, a master assassin with hypnosis abilities known only as The Foreigner (Christopher Abbott), whom he’s hired to track Kraven.
Nikolai arrives at Dmitri’s club in London, where he’s now a singer and pianist – definitely not what his father imagined for him. Then cronies of the Rhino arrive to kill Nikolai, resulting in a huge shootout. Dmitri hides under the piano until it’s over and then returns to his apartment, only to be surprised by Kraven. They have a nice brotherly reunion until Nikolai shows up, again touting Kraven as the strong one and Dmitri as the weak one.
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Unable to sleep in Dmitri’s noisy building, Kraven leaves to find quiet in the park (though why a park in the middle of London would be any less noisy is a good question, but I digress). When he returns to Dmitri’s apartment, he discovers that the Rhino’s guys have kidnapped him.
The Rhino shows off his mutation to Dmitri, mentioning Dr. Miles Warren (known to Spidey fans as The Jackal), who helped him become superhuman. Rhino also cuts off Dmitri’s finger and sends it to Nikolai as proof of life and a warning.
Meanwhile, Kraven comes to Calypso’s rescue when the Rhino’s guys come after her. He brings her to the dome in Russia and has a short little fight with a wildcat that he’s known since she was a cub. Calypso’s impressed by his abilities and the numerous weapons and poisons he’s made. Kraven tells her he’s been trying to replicate the serum she gave him but hasn’t been able to crack the formula. Luckily, she still has some left.
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The Foreigner shows up to take Kraven out using a poison dart. It weakens Kraven and causes him to hallucinate that he’s being attacked by spiders (the only Spidey reference in the whole flick). The Foreigner hits him with more darts and almost manages to kill him until Calypso shoots him with an arrow right through the eye. Calypso then uses the rest of the serum to revive Kraven.
The Rhino moves in with his guys, and Kraven calls on the wildebeests to stampede. Aleksei allows himself to go full Rhino (including horns) and gets into a huge battle with Kraven in the middle of the stampede. Kraven almost can’t beat his impenetrable skin but finds the spot where Rhino’s serum goes in and stabs it. Then he chucks Rhino into the stampede, where he’s trampled to death.
Kraven then goes to find his father, who, as it turns out, was the one who told The Rhino where to find Kraven and inadvertently caused Dmitri’s kidnapping in a move to get rid of The Rhino. Nikolai once again tries to get his son to join him, but Kraven’s not having it. He walks away as a bear attacks. And as Nikolai scrambles to find bullets, Kraven reveals that he’s taken them all, and Nikolai dies.
Kraven then shows up at Dmitri’s club, where he’s still singing but no longer playing piano. He belts out some lounge version of Black Sabbath before having a drink with his brother. But Dmitri’s not the same anymore, and they end up arguing, Dmitri saying that Kraven’s just like their father, hunting for trophies.
Kraven follows Dmitri outside where Dmitri reveals his new ability – to not only impersonate others’ voices but their faces as well, copying Kraven’s own. Turns out Dmitri also went to Dr. Miles Warren and got himself a suit that gives him these new abilities. And now Dmitri (known to Spidey fans as The Chameleon) wants to take over the Kravinoff empire. The once-close brothers part as enemies.
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Kraven returns to their father’s mansion, where Nikolai’s left him a gift and a note. The note says that Kraven’s just like him, as Dmitri said. And the gift? A vest made from the pelt and huge mane of the lion that technically killed him. Kraven puts on his trademark vest and sits down in a throne-like chair to stare at himself in the mirror. The end. No mid-credits scene. That’s it.
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Sony’s been having a real issue with its Spider-Man-adjacent flicks. They think that just because the Tom Holland Spidey flicks (and the animated Spiderverse) have done so well – and because they’ve been able to successfully spin off Venom (2018) so far, they can make flicks about any and all of the Spidey-related characters with similar success. What they’re failing to realize, though, is that the Tom Holland Spidey flicks and the animated flicks with Miles Morales – are actually good.
There’s a definite vibe that emanates from Kraven the Hunter — and Sony’s other recent duds like Madame Web (2024) and Morbius (2022) – that the whole thing is just an obligation. It feels rote, mechanical and like it really has no reason for existing.
Which is a shame because there are things to like about the flick. Mostly Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who’s certainly up for the physical challenge of playing Kraven and imbues the character with charm and just enough angst to make him feel truly conflicted.
They also include more Spidey-related characters like Calypso, The Rhino, the Foreigner and the Chameleon. Which is cool, except that two out of the four end up dead. Why bother including such major characters if all you’re going to do is introduce and kill them in the same flick? It’s such a limiting, downright dumb thing to do, which shows a huge lack of foresight on Sony’s part.
Instead of investing in good storytelling and having an overall narrative plan like Disney’s Marvel Studios does, Sony’s just throwing everything they have at the wall to see what sticks.
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Another problem is that there is a definite feeling of superhero fatigue in general, which even Marvel Studios can’t avoid. The powerful, hugely successful one-two punch of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019) really felt like the culmination of one of the greatest stories ever told, and even Marvel has been struggling a bit to recreate that magic.
But the most important thing Sony needs to learn from Kraven the Hunter is that continuing to make Spider-Man-related flicks without Spider-Man will only result in more box-office bombs. They need to figure out a way to include the hero without whose existence these villains wouldn’t exist.
Directed by: J.C. Chandor
Written by: Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway
Release date: Dec. 13, 2024
Rating: R
Run time: 2hr, 7min
Distributor: Sony/Columbia Pictures
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