‘Kraven the Hunter’: Another Spider-Man spinoff misses mark
-
AP photos
These images released by Sony Pictures show Aaron Taylor Johnson in Columbia Pictures and Marvel’s ‘Kraven the Hunter.’

AP photos
These images released by Sony Pictures show Aaron Taylor Johnson in Columbia Pictures and Marvel’s ‘Kraven the Hunter.’
Before reviewing “Kraven the Hunter,” let’s take a quick pop quick. Ready? Name the five of the greatest Spider-Man’s villains if all time?
There are obvious choices, like Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Venom. Did I hear Kingpin? Maybe, Mysterio or Morbius? Carnage, The Lizard, Vulture, Sandman and Electro are also acceptable answers.
Back to Kraven the Hunter, who likely wouldn’t make many top five lists. He might not even crack the top 10. In fact, Kraven ranked No. 12, according to rankings released by Comics Basics.
So, while you could make a Kraven movie — clearly I’m writing about one now — I’m not sure why you would want to make one. Especially one where Spider-Man himself doesn’t even make a cameo. Having sat through Sony’s new “Kraven the Hunter” did little to change my opinion.
If there was more to the Kraven character, actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson brought little to the screen except his chiseled abdominal muscles. His Kraven — secret identity Sergei Kravinoff — proves not be a super-villain but rather a vigilante who targets evildoers around the globe. He maintains a list of bad guys — arms dealers, illegal poachers, etc. — and knocks them off one by one.

That’s right, instead of hunting animals as he did in comic books, Kraven now hunts hunters.
Although Kraven has no job or obvious source of income, he somehow maintains his own private plans — with a personal pilot on call 24/7 — for whenever he wants to venture off to some remote corner of the world to stab someone in the neck with a tiger fang.
One would think this line of work would keep Kraven fairly busy, but he seems to get constantly sidetracked by domestic drama. Most of it centers around his father Nikolai (Russell Crowe), who is a ruthless criminal in his own right.
A flashback reveals Nikolai abused Sergei and his half-brother Dmitri (Fred Hechinger) in order to toughen them up and prepare them for the Darwinian world of international crime syndicates.
This flashback also reveals the origin of Kraven’s animalistic super powers, which involves a lion attack, drop of lion blood and mysterious voodoo elixir poured down his throat at just the right moment by a girl named Calypso, who happens to stumble across Kraven’s right as the aforementioned lion gets a craving for Kraven. Your guess is as good as mine about how that concoction worked.
Kraven’s hunts create a power vacuum in the underworld that several gangsters want to fill, including Nikolai and a rival known as the Rhino (Alessandro Nivola), a Russian crook with a vague medical condition he treats by wearing a goofy little backpack with a tube that attaches to a port in his side. The bag hides an IV that constantly feeds him medicine.
As directed by skillful filmmaker J.C. Chandor this Spider-Man spinoff is more competent and lucid than the others Sony has released like “Madame Web” or “Morbius.” Its plot basically makes sense. “Kraven the Hunter” is never especially good — at times, it is downright boring — but it also isn’t a disaster.
Grade: C
•••
Greg Williams is a reporter and Weekend Editor for The Sentinel. A Mifflin County native, he has been writing for The Sentinel since 1991.