Director - JC Chandor 
Cast - Aaron Taylor Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, Russell Crowe
Duration – 127 Minutes
 
Marvel’s latest attempt at spawning a new franchise from the depths of its sprawling universe, Kraven the Hunter, aims for gritty anti-heroic thrills but ends up as a muddled, morally hollow mess. Directed by J.C. Chandor, the film attempts to give some emotional weight to the origin story of Sergei Kravinoff (aka Kraven), but what it delivers is a feverish series of contrived action sequences and incoherent moralizing that sinks under its own weight.
 
To kick things off, we’re introduced to Sergei as a wide-eyed, innocent boy living in the shadow of his terrifying Russian gangster father, Nikolai (Russell Crowe). The elder Kravinoff’s parenting strategy, as one might expect from a screen mafia boss, involves cruelty and intimidation. A pivotal moment of trauma arrives when he drags Sergei and his half-brother, Dimitri (Billy Barratt), on a safari in Africa, where Sergei’s close encounter with a lion leaves him clinging to life. This is where the film starts taking strange, supernatural turns as Calypso (Diaana Babnicova), a mysterious girl, administers a magical potion that not only revives Sergei but inexplicably imbues him with superhuman strength and abilities.
 
Flash forward, and Sergei, now played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is a full-fledged vigilante, taking down criminals with violent gusto. Yet, despite his newfound powers, the film’s emotional core seems permanently locked in a vacuum. Instead of allowing Sergei’s journey to resonate or evolve, it merely compiles a series of violent outbursts, devoid of meaningful character development.
 
The film’s core dilemma—what makes Kraven tick—is lost in a swamp of superficial plot points. He’s supposed to be a morally ambiguous character, but Kraven the Hunter never seems to make up its mind whether we should cheer for him or consider him a tragic figure. His violent streak and a blind devotion to vigilante justice raise some ethical questions, but those questions are largely abandoned in favor of brutal set pieces. If the movie had taken time to explore Kraven’s internal conflict, or his relationship with his half-brother Dimitri (Fred Hechinger), it might have offered something more than just a blood-spattered ride.
 
Enter Calypso (now played by Ariana DeBose), whose character exists solely to provide a moral anchor for Kraven. She’s the attorney who questions his methods, but her protests are weak at best. Even when her own family background, steeped in witchcraft and tarot cards, is revealed, her role in the narrative remains uninspired. She’s not so much a compelling character as a plot device, used to push Kraven’s story forward while asking the audience to suspend disbelief at her sudden moral reversals.
 
While the film’s premise suggests a messy yet compelling portrait of a fractured anti-hero, the execution falters spectacularly. The violence is so graphic that it veers into the absurd, and while it's meant to show Kraven as a brutal force of nature, it becomes exhausting. One might wonder if the filmmakers intended for Kraven to feel like an unstoppable force of justice or a reckless, vengeful monster, but instead, he feels like a poorly-thought-out Frankenstein of bad decisions and worse taste.
 
In its desperate bid for grittiness, Kraven the Hunter piles on the gore, profanity, and occult themes in a way that feels more like an endless laundry list of "edgy" content than a carefully considered narrative. The film’s pacing is uneven, and its convoluted plot—with half-baked ideas about family, power, and justice—does nothing to salvage the lackluster character arcs or the awkward tonal shifts. Even the typically solid Russell Crowe feels out of place as Nikolai, his heavy-handed performance only adding to the film's grim atmosphere.
 
Ultimately, Kraven the Hunter is a lost cause, straining to deliver the moral complexity and cinematic excitement of an anti-hero story but failing to land either. The film’s blood-soaked violence and dark, supernatural elements might appeal to viewers who crave spectacle over substance, but anyone hoping for a deeper exploration of Kraven’s character will likely find themselves disappointed. With little to offer beyond excessive violence and a poorly executed origin story, Kraven the Hunter fails to deliver the thrills or emotional payoff promised by its premise.