I feel like I’m a broken record because so many of these movies this year, about 35-40 minutes in, I go, “This is a terrible film, I’m giving it a D.” And here’s another case of that. “Kraven the Hunter” should really be called “Kraven the Clunker”. The lengthy backstory (involving how Sergei eventually becomes Kraven, and his relationships with his dad and brother), the ultra-violent action, the weird but simple themes that it tries to get across. There’s nothing special here.
Completely wasted performance from Ariana DeBose as Kraven’s companion Calypso. My gosh. And Russell Crowe (as pops) tries his best but he doesn’t have a lot to do, unlike the ways he elevated “Land of Bad” and “The Exorcism” earlier this year.
The Rhino shows up. He’s played by Alessandro Nivola, who is also in “The Brutalist”, a film I don’t really care for. Not a great end of 2024 for him. Every scene with The Rhino tries to be fun and energetic, but they’re just so bad. You cannot take this seriously.
The word that kept popping in my mind is ‘plain’. This is a plain experience. It’s very ordinary. And I liked some of director J.C. Chandor’s previous films, including “A Most Violent Year”, “Triple Frontier” and the solid ‘Robert Redford on a boat’ drama “All Is Lost”. And then Chandor goes on to do a by the numbers, ordinary Marvel superhero action movie with not much excitement, intensity, or much to care. And another weak role for Taylor-Johnson. Can he really pull-off being the next James Bond after two duds at the end of the year? I don’t think so.
LCJ GRADE: D
Running Time: 127 min.