This film should have been better. It has some strong actors who usually turn in good performances. The script and cinematography are uneven, leaving them not much to work with. The best sequence is the opening one. Set in a bleak prison in Russia (Iceland standing in for Russia), Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson} is introduced. It’s in Russian with subtitles and is the best part of Taylor-Johnson’s performance. That’s before he is saddled with a really bad American accent for the rest of the film.
Russell Crowe delivers the most consistent portrayal. His character, Nikolai Kravinoff, is the embodiment of toxic masculinity. He brings an evil intensity and cruelty that sets the tone of the narrative. Kravinoff is an exiled, very successful Russian crime boss living in England. For some reason, his sons attend an American boarding school. He pulls them out of school to participate in a dangerous lion-hunting safari in Africa. His goal? To make men out of them. The eldest, Sergei, seems up to the task, but Dimitri is a timid, sensitive kid. Things don’t go as planned, and this is when Sergei’s transformation into Kraven begins. That transformation involves a mysterious young girl, Calypso, who possesses some potent mystical powers. I’ll leave that piece of the action for you to discover! Again, this part is superior to what follows when they’re adults.
As adults, these characters are played by Taylor-Johnson as Sergei/Kraven, Fred Hechinger as Dimitri, and Ariana Debose as Calypso.
When Sergei emerges as Kraven, he puts some other- side- of- the world distance between himself and his toxic father, but regrets leaving his brother to endure his dad’s harshness. Based in a yurt-styled structure in far Eastern Siberia, he “hunts” and eliminates bad guys. He does so very efficiently as viewers are introduced to the powers he acquired when he morphed into Kraven. His strength, speed, and cunning come from his special bond with animals whom he identifies with much more than humans.
As fascinating as this sounds, it’s one of the places where the film gets lost. Of course, Kraven can do a multitude of things a normal human can’t do which requires many stunts and some CGI. These sequences, of course — not meant to be funny — are some that the preview audience laughed at because they are poorly done. Also unfortunate is the attempt to make Kraven hip and witty. Taylor-Johnson looks so uncomfortable doing this that you just want to give him a hug and say it’s not his fault that the script is bad and full of clichés and the stunts are sub-par.
Kraven comes up against some formidable villains. Alessandro Nivola plays Aleksei — better known as “The Rhino” — due to an unfortunate skin condition that makes him strong but also makes him look like a rhinoceros. Christopher Abbot is “The Foreigner” who can manipulate time. The bulk of the narrative involves some very repetitive scenarios featuring their attempt to kill Kraven and his unlikely survival. These bad guys seem unusually difficult to eliminate, so Kraven reunites with Calypso who still has some of those mystical powers even though she’s now a lawyer living in London.
Kraven the Hunter suffers from being uneven. The script is uneven, varying from pretty good to cringingly lame. The action sequences are uneven, varying from pretty good to poorly executed. And as for the ending scene…well…there’s just no excuse for it. My condolences to Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
If you’re a fan of any of these actors or the character Kraven, you may enjoy watching the film. Otherwise, you might want to skip this one. – JoAnne Hyde