David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Fred Hechinger’

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.

Gladiator II

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Derek Jacobi, Fred Hechinger, Rory McCann, Matt Lucas, Tim McInnerny

Running Time: 2 hours and 28 minutes

Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

PLEASE NOTE THIS FILM IS EXTREMELY VIOLENT AND NOT SUITABLE FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS

Sir Ridley Scott excels himself in the much anticipated sequel to the 2000 hit film Gladiator, Gladiator II assembling an international cast with Danish actress Connie Nielsen reprising her role as Lucilla and newcomer Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun) taking on the role of Lucius, the forgotten son of Lucilla who is captured in Africa in 200 AD and returned to Rome. Pedro Pascal (The Great Wall, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) plays the Roman army general Marcus Acacius, tough and strategic but unwillingly to continue serving at the whim of tyrant twin emperors.

Lucius soon becomes the property of the wily and politically astute gladiator trader and confidant to the twin emperors Macrinus superbly played with wit and brutality by double Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Training Day, Glory). Denzel Washington is superb in this role and deserves a 3^rd Oscar presenting his character to Lucius as a friend who needs to use Lucius as his blunt instrument as he secretly devises a coup to get rid of the crazy twin emperors and make a power grab.

Rome in 200 AD is a heady, extravagant and brutal city, ruled by twin brothers Emperor Geta played by Joseph Quinn (A Quiet Place Day One) and Emperor Caracalla played by Fred Hechinger. Young men, covered with makeup, mischief and a malevolence as they lust for watching gladiators being viciously executed in the Coliseum, Rome’s temple to the blood lust. The Emperors are unhinged in a seriously bad way and the Romans are beginning to realize that the twins supposedly raised by wolves are not the most ideal political leaders. Macrinus is aware of their shortcomings.

Gladiator II is a vast and ambitious film, expertly directed by Ridley Scott who fantastically captures the grandeur of the Roman capital, the lavishness of the city and the brutality of the population increasingly hungry for more tyranny and madness. The Gladiators have to fight Rhinos and in a particularly bizarre scene have to re-enact a naval battle scene between the Praetorian Guard and surly Gladiators amidst a coliseum flooded with shark infested waters.

With electrifying screen presence, Paul Mescal whose international stardom will be cemented in Gladiator II is the central muscular hero of a film, whose brilliant elocution of lines and classical good looks with Mescal’s icy blue eyes portraying a vulnerability suppressed by his brute strength and desire for violence and vengeance.

Mescal’s Lucius is a complex man, torn by a classical past but thrust into a decadent world filled with revenge and hatred. Lucius demands a just and unified Rome as dreamt up by his grandfather Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

With a beautiful score by Harry Gregson-Williams and a surprising script by David Scarpa, whose labyrinthine tale will deliver enough shocks and twists, ensuring that Gladiator II is a fascinating and brittle tale of how vanity and power corrupts a once noble empire. In this Roman epic, one man’s destiny can only be salvaged at the expense of another man’s demise.

There are lots of plot twists in Gladiator II but overall the film is superb, an epic Roman tale about greed, power and the collapse of tyranny.

Ridley Scott outdoes himself and Gladiator II should be recognized at the 2025 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design and of course Best Actor for Paul Mescal and Supporting Actor for Denzel Washington. Both Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington are brilliant in this lavish epic. Be dazzled and see it in cinemas on the biggest screen possible.

Gladiator II gets a film rating of 8.5 out of 10, stunning, sumptuous and filled with shocking scenes that will both repel and fascinate the viewer held together by two excellent performances. It’s a bloody entertaining epic and recommended viewing especially for history buffs.