David R. Walker

Kraven the Hunter

Director: J. C. Chandor

Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Fred Hechinger, Russell Crowe, Alessandro Nivola, Ariana DeBose, Christopher Abbott, Levi Miller, Billy Barratt

Running Time: 2 hours and 7 minutes

Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

A  Most Violent Year director J. C. Chandor takes on a fringe superhero film in the eagerly anticipated Kraven the Hunter starring Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals) as Sergei Kravinoff, the eldest son of Russian gangster Nikolai Kravinoff played with a vodka infused accent by Oscar winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator).

The 34 year old British star, Taylor-Johnson got into seriously transformative physical shape to play the Hunter, a highly skilled trained assassin and general tough guy who is protective of his creepy younger brother, the chameleon like Dimitri, wonderfully played by Fred Hechinger last seen in Gladiator 2 as the crazy bloodthirsty Emperor Caracalla.

Kraven the Hunter starts off in Siberia then the action moves swiftly to London and then onto Ghana where a hunting expedition goes bad when Nikolai takes his two young sons to hunt wild animals to toughen them up. The younger characters are played by Levi Miller and Billy Barratt respectively.

As entertaining and exciting as this film is, Kraven the Hunter lacks two essential elements to make a narrative mesmerizing: a truly depraved villain and a sexy leading lady.

Alessandro Nivola (A Most Violent Year, Ginger and Rosa, American Hustle) plays the rival gangster villain Aleksei Sytsevich also known as the Rhino due to his unique ability to turn his skin into that of a rhino and deflect any bullets. Unfortunately, Nivola does not make the villain Rhino that menacing and he comes off as a crazy pastiche of bad CGI villains in a mediocre film saved only by some great action scenes.

Then there is Oscar winner Ariana Debose (West Side Story) playing the poorly written character Calypso, the only woman in a film about male bravado, aggression and predatory behaviour. Calypso battles to fit into this male world of hunting and killing.

Unfortunately there is no love interest between Calypso and Kraven and she serves as the voice of reason in a crazy revenge fuelled film about male power, domination and the fight for survival and succession.

As Calypso rescues the crossbow wielding Kraven a second time she tells him flirtatiously that legends don’t die.

Fred Hechinger’s Dimitri has a more fascinating character arc and provides a surprising plot twist at the end. Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) pops up briefly as an equally strange henchman called the Foreigner with inexplicable supernatural powers.

Sexualize your characters and make the villain really brilliant. If the screenwriters had done that then Kraven the Hunter would have been a far more superior film.

Kraven the Hunter is a reasonably good action film with cool stunts and weapons, helped by a believable Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the main role but it is not brilliant. It’s an average superhero film which ties masculine strength with aggression and the fight for survival.

Kraven the Hunter gets a film rating of 6.5 out of 10 and is recommended viewing as an entertaining action film whose storyline could have done with some sharpening.

See it if you have two hours to kill and need tips on how to decorate your man cave.

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