KRAVEN THE HUNTER

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven

KRAVEN THE HUNTER (2024). Director: J. C. Chandor.

Sergei Kravanoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is one of two sons of the Russian mobster Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe). Nikolai has decided that Sergei will be the one he will groom to take over his business, but Sergei is having none of it. Instead of working with and for his hated father, he becomes a feared, intense vigilante known as Kraven, even breaking into prisons to murder gangsters. The question is: will he also kill his own father? 

Fully transformed, the Rhino confronts Kraven

In stories published by Marvel Comics, Kraven was a persistent Spider-Man foe who considered himself the world's greatest hunter (in the movie Kraven sees himself as the world's greatest man-hunter), and who wanted to bag Spidey as a challenge. In later years Kraven was made a bit more dimensional, but the cinematic Kraven is essentially a different character, more along the lines of Marvel's Punisher. Kraven the Hunter treads lightly on the Marvel Universe, but while ignoring our web-head, does bring in such other Spider-Man foes as the Foreigner, the Rhino, and at the end, the Chameleon. 

A teenaged Kraven (Levi Miller) with Russell Crowe

Kraven is an extremely well-crafted action flick, with many well-directed battle sequences, superb cinematography by Ben Davis, good FX work, and excellent performances from a large cast. Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven in just the right note, adding insinuating sex appeal to the role as he goes about his violent and acrobatic business. Crowe is terrific as his father, with fine support from Fred Hechinger as his brother; Christopher Abbott as the slimy Foreigner, who can (sort of ) disappear; and Alessandro Nivola as Sytsevich/the Rhino, who underplays his part in a most sinister fashion. Levi Miller and Billy Barratt are also good as the Kravinoff siblings as teens. Ariana DeBose has little to do as Calypso, who saves Kraven's life after he's mauled by a tiger by giving him a special potion (which apparently accounts for his "marvelous" abilities), but I'm not certain if she's even a Marvel character. At the very end of the movie Kraven dons an outfit, a gift from his father, that is similar to the costume he donned in the comics. 

Verdict: Not too original but fun and exciting -- it never hurts to have a hot guy in the lead. ***.