SHIT TROPHY
We can at least recognize one thing about this Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, renamed SonyVerse or more affectionately “the Spider-Man-universe-without-Spider-Man”: it has pushed the limits of critical exercise on Large Screen. In 2018, the first Venom had received a 1/5, which was then considered the lowest mark we allowed ourselves so as not to dirty our karma too much. It didn’t last long since in 2021, Venom 2 received a 0.5/5, as did Morbius in 2022, then Madame Web et Venom 3 in 2024. On the importance of being consistent.
In the middle of this gallery of horrors, Kraven the Hunter would almost set the record straight, and dominate this stagnant puddle of water. The villain of the Spider-Man universe, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1964, was one of the rare Sinister Six not yet to have had the honor and especially the dishonor of existing in the cinema, unlike his colleagues Vautour, Electro, Rhino or even Mysterio. It was teased at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2had almost appeared in Black Pantherand a version of Spider-Man : No Way Home could even have been built around it.
Kraven the Hunter finally gets his solo film, with a miracle in the credits: the presence of a good director, JC Chandor (Margin Call, All is Lost, Triple frontier, A Most Violent Year), to lead Aaron Taylor-Johnson and his full array of abs, and with a budget estimated at 110 million – equivalent of Venom. To everyone’s surprise, this was not proof that the producers had decided to rectify the situation with a blockbuster worthy of the name, far from it.
CONS KISSES FROM RUSSIA
However, the door was wide open so that Kraven the Hunter passes into the assumed grand guignol. Between the intro of the film with the theme ofChasing Red October composed by Basil Poledouris (because we are in Russia), the Russian accent of Russell Crowe (which will have been hidden in all the racks, between the DCEU, the MCU and the little angel who left very early from the Dark Universe) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson striking the inevitable pose of shiny-abs-model after five minutes (Jared Leto had waited longer in Morbius), the popcorn stars were aligned.
As for the screenplay by Richard Wenk (the recent Equalizer, Expendables 2, Jack Reacher 2), and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Uncharted, Transformers 5, Men in Black International), the level of I-don’t-care is great. Aberrant coincidences and lunar exchanges follow one another to arrange the plot, even if it means creating absolutely magical situations. The character of Calypso is the big winner in this laughter contest, with a handful of scenes, each more worthless than the last, where the nevertheless talented Ariana DeBose plays the luxury model.
But that’s nothing compared to big bad guys Kraven the Hunterwho invoke the demigods of nerdyness. Obviously lost, Christopher Abbott plays one, two, three sun version of David Copperfield, and beyond the fantastic sunglasses dating from the 2000s, nothing will be explained about this character.
The prize nevertheless goes to Alessandro Nivola, who coexists with the Matt Smith of Morbius in the multiverse of histrionicsnotably in a tantrum potentially inspired by Louis de Funès. And when this big villain finally transforms into Rhino in the final fight, Kraven the Hunter reaches heights of incredible ugliness. But it is too little, and too late, since all these elements are scattered in a film if not too serious, too bland and too talkative.
CHASE THE NATURAL…
With JC Chandor at the helm, it made sense that Kraven the Hunter be anchored in a slightly more realistic and raw world – for what that means in such a blockbuster, where the use of green backgrounds for anything and everything defies common sense. Apart from a few bursts of kitsch which bear the stamp of DIY in post-production (Kraven’s phantasmagorical visions in the form of wallpapers found on Uncle’s Facebook), the film hangs together like this to exterior landscapes, to counterbalance the usual urban settings.
More Kraven the Hunter stay excessively bland and grayishin such crazy proportions that Tanzania, Siberia and London are compressed into the same sad color palette. Cinematographer Ben Davis is a veteran of the genre, capable of both the best and the worst at Marvel (Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers 2, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, The Eternals). Here it is yet another blockbuster that offers fifty thousand shades of gray.
Same inspiration in the action scenes, which timidly punctuate the good two hours of this ultra-talkative film. When This Super Fighter’s Funniest Stunt Looks Like a Remake of Captain America 2there is not much left to hope for.
In the first climax, Kraven transforms in sub-Wolverine in a forest as poorly exploited as the rest, with a few mini-clashes settled in fourth gear, before an obviously hideous final fight. There is no doubt that there was chainsaw blows in this partnotably with the nightmare sequence barely assumed or the abominably useless role of Calypso, who disappears in an ultimately very funny admission of failure.
And there’s no point in dwelling on l’argument du Rated R (ban on under 17s in the United States), now brandished to make an audience salivate that the studios consider to be calves. THE bloody or violent shots of Kraven the Hunter can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and are so useful that they could be cut without changing anything.
The show ends with the promise of a new villain (obviously ridiculous) and new tomorrows (obviously improbable given the stratospheric failure of this The requirements). There is no post-credits scene but you only need to rewatch the trailers to see which images are missing from the film, and where the only place they could have existed. Until the end, patchwork and pieces of tape to hide the misery.
Kraven the Hunter will he be the last of his kind? Given the success of Venom and the vein Spider-Manthe studio will surely undertake other smoke and mirrors, claiming that there was no shared universe project with Morbius, Madame Web et The requirements. This is certainly the most perilous stunt of this entire “saga”.
