It’s been at least 10 years since Sony decided to create a Cinematic Universe centered on random members of Spider-Man’s Rogue gallery and give them their films without Spider-Man in them. 

The end game for all of this was supposed to culminate in a Sinister Six movie featuring an Avenger-style team-up of Spider-Man villains that may or may not have ended in a Spider-Man appearance when it was all said and done. For 10 years everyone with half a brain has told so many that this was a terrible idea.

An idea that is so bad that at one point there were rumors of an Aunt May movie in development.  Well after several years and six films, the Sony version of Spider-Man movies has come to an end and the only positive thing that you could say about it is that it produced some of the films of the last 10 years.

Movies such as Venom… venom 2… Venom 3… Morbius… Madam Webb… and now the finale of the Sony verse Kraven the Hunter. Most of you guys listening to this were more excited about being the victim of a drive-by shooting than you were watching Kraven the Hunter.

But we’ve made it this far so we might as well end things with a bang,  and by bang I mean the sound of the worst Cinematic Universe in the history of comic book movies exploding with the force of a nuclear bomb. Kraven the Hunter begins with Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff, The son of a powerful Drug Dealer / Big Game Hunter who tries to look after his weaker little brother but can’t pull himself away from his father’s wrath.

After surviving a horrific lion attack,  Sergey combined with a drop of blood and literal Hocus Pocus becomes a super-powered individual With superhuman strength, cat-like reflexes,  and the ability to hunt down anyone he puts his sights on. As several years pass,  one of Kraven’s biggest hunts draws him to the attention of a dangerous mercenary who refers to himself as the rhino. 

Knowing that Kraven has a list that you cannot get off of until you are dead,  the rhino decides to strike first by killing Kraven and eliminating the threat.  Of course, the way he figures out how to do this is to kidnap Kraven’s brother, which motivates him to hunt and find the rhino. 

This movie will turn out to be a series of big mistakes in our villain story within a villain story. Let’s get the positives out of the way,  craving the Hunter is not the worst Sony Spider-Man film to ever be made. That honor remains with ‘Venom Let There Be Carnage’. 

There are a few elements that work in this film; they just don’t mesh with the overall Narrative of the story.  Aaron Taylor Johnson, it’s fine as the lead character of this film,  in a better-written movie you can see this as a window of better things to come. 

Russell Crowe who plays his father in the film is a solid actor And once again with better material can he conserve to be a much better movie. The first 10 minutes of the film are very well done as our title character jumps right into the action to show the audience his ability and what makes him such a dangerous figure with the opening Prison Break scene.

If the film ended in the first 10 minutes, I would give this movie four out of 5 stars, but it didn’t. After the prison escape the film goes through a near 40-minute Flashback sequence regarding the upbringing of Kraven’s character which brings the film to a screeching halt right off the bat.

 The pacing of this film is so awful you can go to sleep for about the next hour and not miss anything important to the plot. The floor with every single Sony Spider-Man Versus movie is that the film is trying to tell a story about a villain who is the protagonist but attempts to tell their story from the perspective of a hero. 

The villain isn’t bad because there’s always somebody around who’s even worse than them. This dilemma creates a hollow cinematic version of a far more entertaining character because Sony doesn’t have anyone talented enough to tell a villain story from his perspective. Then again with no hero in the movie to stop said villain the point might as well be moot.

The film showcases a British, Australian, and American actor attempting to do three horrendous Russian accents simultaneously. The visual effects of this movie are awful. Multiple characters don’t even act like they’re acting in the same movie as everyone else in the film.

Alessandro Nivola Plays the Rhino who’s not even charismatic enough to be qualified as a cartoon character. Still, his portrayal is so over the top it’s out of place for a Hannah Barbara cartoon. Written by three screenwriters and directed by the guy who brought you Triple Frontier 5 years ago, Kraven the Hunter, the positive thing to say is that it is not the worst Sony Marvel movie to come out in 2024. 

Then again Being better than Madame Web isn’t the best way to end a Cinematic Universe that will go down as one of the biggest mistakes for Sony since giving Seth Rogen a carte blanche.

1.5/5

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