Kraven the Hunter - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Kraven the Hunter



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
At some point, Sony has to come to the decision to give up making Spider-Man movies without….well...Spider-Man. Back in the Andrew Garfield Spidey days, Sony had a powerful inclination towards making a Sinister-Six film in that same universe, but after The Amazing Spider-Man 2, that whole franchise basically fell off a cliff. They got some much-needed boosting when they agreed to allow Spider-Man to go into the MCU, and co-own the Tom Holland version together with Marvel. So that means that while they technically still have the rights to Spider-Man, they can’t use him on their own at the moment. Something which hasn’t stopped them from taking secondary Spidey characters and villains from his rogues gallery, and then putting them up in their films. Thus we have films like Morbius (one of the movies of all time. It has made Morbillion dollars and morbed all over the place), and the AMAZING Madame Web (for those who can’t detect it, that was insane amounts of sarcasm right there), and now Kraven the Hunter gets his own go despite having about as much of a chance of being in a Sinister-Six movie as I do of becoming president in 4 years.

Kraven the Hunter introduces us to brothers Sergei (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Dmitri Kravinoff (Fred Hechinger), who are shocked by the news that their mentally ill mother has just died. Their father Nikolai (Russell Crowe) is a Russian mob boss who wants to make his children tough, so he pushes them to their limits, only for Sergei to run off and leave his family behind. However, unknown to his family, Sergei has gained supernatural abilities after having the blood of a Lion mingle with his AND being brought back to life by a mystical African potion given to him by a young girl who dragged him away from said lion. These powers make him an incredible hunter, tracking down each and every scumbag in the world as a sort of anti-hero.

But as always, things draw our hero home, as his brother Dmitri is captured by a rival Russian mob boss only known as “The Rhino” (Alessandro Nivola). Dmitri may have stayed with his father, but he ended up being the artistic one, having gained the name “The Chameleon” for his ability to mimic just about any singer out there. Now Sergei has to team up with rogue lawyer Calypso Ezili (Ariana DeBose) and hunt down The Rhino and get his brother back.

As a huge Spider-Man fan since the 1980s, I have a lot of beef with how the movie plays out on a nerd level. Sony has absolutely butchered Kraven’s character, turning him into the obligatory “good guy who just goes a bit far” instead of the megalomaniac character he is in the comics. The same goes with Calypso. They hint and tease at her real character, but don’t do anything at all with it except to name-drop for no real reason. The same goes for Dmitri and The Rhino. Dmitri’s reveal as “The Chameleon” later on in the film almost had me throwing my remote at the TV as it just butchers one of the best Marvel B-level villains. But it’s the Rhino that drove me nuts. Everyone knew from the beginning that The Rhino was going to be in the film, and his name is used all over the runtime, but he doesn’t even show up as his titular character until the last 5 minutes of the movie, and hes snuffed out just like that.

All that whining aside, Kraven is not that bad of a movie. It’s not great mind you, but it’s not a horrible movie either. This is head and shoulders above Madame Web or Morbius by a long shot, and it has a cohesive storyline. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is reasonable as Sergei, and Russell Crowe (despite obviously phoning it in) absolutely steals the show. Same with Alessandro Nivola as The Rhino too. Nivola is reveling in his role as a supervillain, eating the scenery at every turn and just having fun with it. The action is solid, and unlike Madame Web, I didn’t feel like drowning myself in my own toilet after watching. Maybe not a good movie, but certainly serviceable.




Rating:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, and language.




Video:

Kraven gets a very solid 1080p Blu-ray release, with a faithful replication of the theatrical experience to a T (from my memory of the theaters). It’s a dim-looking film, with deep blacks and plenty of low contrast shots which naturally sort of mute many of the colors. The Russian countryside looks beautiful, with luscious greens and deep blues permeating the grungy city life. Nightclubs can be dark and amber-lit, which leads to some definite black crush and softness. It’s a solid-looking film, and I didn’t notice any major artifacting, it’s just so dimly lit that the film loses some detail levels, which is why I’m leaving a 4/5 rating.









Audio:

I definitely would love to get my hands on that Atmos track found on the Sony 4K UHD Steelbook, but the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track found on this Blu-ray certainly sounds quite good. This is a generic superhero action film, and the track gears itself toward that, BUT it’s a competently done mix. Action is hot and heavy, with crashing rocks, smashing buildings, and gunshots galore. The open African countryside where Sergei gets his powers is quite active with the sounds of nature, and the bass is more than capable of keeping up. It may not be something that’s absolutely revolutionary, but it uses the action to keep things in constant motion.











Extras:

• Deleted & Extended Scenes
•Becoming Kraven
•Beast Mode: The Stunts of the Hunt
•Outtakes & Bloopers
•Kraven's First Hunt: The Direction
•Allies & Antagonists: The Killer Cast

Final Score:
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As I said, I was pleasantly surprised by Kraven the Hunter. It’s not a great movie or am I endorsing it as a good watch, but it was a reasonably competent movie that stands head and shoulders over the other two Spidey villain solo attempts (not counting the Venom movies). Once more, I’ll put this into the “lazy Saturday afternoon rental” category as it’s a decent enough watch for a generic action movie. Sony’s Blu-ray technical specs (no 4K this time, as the only way to get the 4K is in the $50 Steelbook) are very solid, with decent extras.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Russell Crowe
Directed by: J.C. Chandor
Written by: Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Sony
Rated: R
Runtime: 127 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: March 4th, 2025

Recommendation: Decent Rental

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Looks like it would be a fun movie to watch for the crazy action scenes, if nothing else.

 

[MusicManLen]

Waiting for the 4K steelbook to drop it's price and then I will add it to my collection....