Rent Kraven the Hunter on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Richard Wenk and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (screenplay), Richard Wenk (story), Stan Lee & Steve Ditko (created by "Kraven")
Directed by: J.C. Chandor
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, Russell Crowe
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
Following a near-death experience, the son of a crime lord transforms into an animalistic vigilante who delights in hunting the world's worst villains.
Verdict
There are so many super hero movies, and this doesn't try to do anything new. With a lesser known hero, it's already an uphill battle. There's just nothing very interesting about this story, save for one action sequence. That's not enough, and the origin is much too long. I've liked all of Chandor's movies, and was curious what he would do in this genre, but good directing can't save a lackluster script.
Skip it.
Review
The reviews weren't very good, but I'm a big fan of J.C. Chandor. I've liked all of his movies; Margin Call, All is Lost, A Most Violent Year, and Triple Frontier. I can no longer state that, as this movie is a dud.
This starts in a Russian prison. We soon discover that Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) infiltrated the prison to eliminate a crime kingpin. It's what he does. I wondered if he was some kind of contract killer, but he hunts bad guys for moral reasons. The contract aspect would have made the movie more interesting.
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| Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven |
Then we jump back to the origins of Kraven as a boy on a hunting trip with his father. I get the desire for a comic book origin story of how a super hero got his powers, but it's just a delay to the main story and so many movies have done this origin story. A radioactive spider bite is more believable than tiger blood mixing with a magic potion to create Kraven. It also would have been quicker.
The story is scattered. I don't know if it's trying to hew too closely to the comics and include all the highlights, but this should take the core of Kraven, an enhanced man that hunts criminals, and build a story around that instead of trying to create this fan service movie that is spread too thin. This is trying to create another generic super hero movie, following the pattern of previous movies. Why?
We finally get a fun scene where Kraven is chasing a car. Due to his speed and strength, he's able to muster a formidable effort. This scene should have been closer to the front of the movie rather than half way in. Unfortunately, it's the only fun scene we get.
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| Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven |
What I don't understand is that Kraven isn't bullet proof, but he jumps off buildings and gets hit by cars without a scratch. He's at least got to be bullet resistant. How can he be afraid of a gun but jump off the top of a building? I don't think we ever see him injured, which is a missed opportunity.
We don't know how Kraven chooses his targets, but he never targeted his father who is a drug kingpin. That's ends up being a mistake as his father is opportunistic and not against using his children.
This follows the beats of a typical superhero movie. It doesn't try to do anything different. This has some good shots and sequences, but a great director can't save a script that's lacking. It's bland, and it has to overcome magic tiger blood as a concept.
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