The Sony Spider-Man Universe is done – officially canceled a few days before the release of Kraven the Hunter. Perhaps the announcement was the death knell for Kraven, or perhaps the film really is as bad as the Rotten Tomatoes scores suggest. While it’s not a great film, I tend to think it’s the former, and Sony should’ve waited at least a week or two after Kraven’s release to make the announcement.
There’s nothing particularly great or inventive about the story, although the filmmakers attempted to depart from the traditional Kraven arc. The drama is flat and formulaic, and the acting is all over the board. Russell Crowe delivers another poor Marvel performance (he played Zeus in the critically and audience-panned Thor: Love and Thunder). Aaron Taylor-Johnson is rumored to be the next James Bond, but supposedly, that role depends on his performance in Kraven. He’s serviceable in Kraven and does well in other films – something that should translate just fine to Bond. The film’s humor is about the same as its acting and drama… flat. Kraven redeems itself with its big-budget action sequences. The CGI is well done, and overall, the action is not overdone. Dare I say, there are some lengthy stretches without much in the way of action?
There’s not much that stands out in Kraven, and yet, my gut tells me I like this film more than how I scored it in most categories. If Sony were to continue with their universe, I’d probably watch this movie again. However, since they’re not, I probably won’t.
