Kraven the Hunter is officially in theaters for all to see, but the criticisms are piling up quickly for the final movie in Sony's Spider-Man Universe.
Sony confirmed its superhero universe would come to an end with Kraven ahead of its release, making many curious to see how the interconnected franchise would conclude. Unfortunately, as was the case with many of Sony's past superhero films, the company's latest entry found a way to reach new levels of underwhelming.
Behind a 15% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes and awful early reviews from critics, Kraven is on its way to breaking records at the box office. Unfortunately, those records are all unwanted, as the film is expected to only gross $11 million in its opening weekend against a budget of well over $100 million.
5 Things Wrong With Sony's Kraven the Hunter
Sony's Work with CGI Is Still Lackluster
As has been the case too often with Sony movies, Kraven did not appear to put forth anything close to its best effort in terms of CGI. Whether it was the wild animals in Africa or the special effects used on villains like Alessandro Nivola's Rhino, much of what fans saw did not come off as believable.
Outside of the look for the Rhino that left much to be desired, the most noticeable bad GCI is seen in the animals most closely associated with Kraven. Specifically, those include the massive lion that gives Kraven his powers and the snow leopard he fights on his quest to find his brother.
Putting it bluntly, the snow leopard looked like it was made of rubber, and certain parts of the fight did not make the animal appear to be a viable threat. While the lion was not much better, those are only two of numerous examples of the lack of attention paid to making sure the VFX met the standard of current action films.
Madame Web's Suspicious ADR Issues Carry Over
Remember the serious issues Sony had in the ADR department with 2024's Madame Web (read more about that film's issues here)? Well, while those issues are not as blatantly awful in Kraven the Hunter, they are impossible to ignore completely.
Comparatively, Madame Web's ADR problems were far more noticeable, as there were numerous scenes where the audio did not match the actors' mouths with the re-recorded dialogue in any way (specifically with Ezekiel Sims). In Kraven, the vast majority of the film feels just slightly off, as many can tell the audio was added in after shooting.
Additionally, there are several scenes shot an extensive distance away from the actors with the audio dubbed over, which feels intentional at times. Although the problems were not as blatant as past Sony projects, this time, the ADR felt just off enough for so much of the film to be a serious problem.
Too Much Material Crammed Into One Story
For as popular as Kraven is in the comics and other media, this movie marks his long-awaited live-action debut in theaters. However, while Aaron Taylor-Johnson's villain got his shine, Kraven the Hunter's record-breaking 127-minute runtime was not enough to fully explore the plethora of characters included in the story.
While the Rhino got a somewhat full-detailed backstory, fans got almost no real look into Christopher Abbott's Foreigner, Kraven's secondary antagonist. He simply showed up, phased around people while counting down, and did not do much else; there was also no explanation whatsoever about his backstory or powers.
At one point, the Foreigner was teased to be the film's main villain, which was not remotely true even if Sony was going for a misdirect. With him and so many other C-to-D-list characters fighting for screentime, fans found it hard to focus on the central plot, and the side plots were not interesting enough to stand on their own.
Major Issues Script Writing and Execution
One of the biggest foundations of any movie is its script, as that helps drive the story forward more than anything else. This is one area where Kraven truly falls off, as its dialogue and script did not even live up to the standard of past Sony Spider-Man movies.
The film's attempt at one-liners almost always fell flat, and the expositional moments were not worked in with any sort of nuance or tact. From the constant references to Dmitri being a "chameleon" to the Rhino's almost nonsensical reasoning behind his moniker, almost nothing worked well on that front.
Along with the dull lines, nothing stood out from any of the characters dialogue-wise, making the story feel slow and uninteresting from scene to scene. If viewers were asked to remember any memorable lines from Kraven, simply put, it would be a challenge to pick a good one out.
Unnecessary Changes to Kraven's Origin Story
Perhaps the biggest crime Kraven the Hunter committed was the major changes the movie made to its main character, one of Marvel's most popular Spider-Man villains. This includes the changes made to Kraven's powerset, giving him a unique connection to wildlife, although that was not the worst offense.
Part of Kraven's origin was done accurately with him drinking a potion from Calypso, but he also seemed to get his powers thanks to a drop of lion blood going into his bloodstream. This is a far cry from what happens in the comics, as Kraven is turned into a genetic specimen through the aforementioned potion in the comics.
On top of that, his entire personality was changed, as the movie depicted him as a conservationist fighting against evil humans rather than a ruthless hunter who hoped to conquer all life. Fans left the theater highly disappointed by this misrepresentation of the character, who should have been a far scarier force.
Kraven the Hunter is now playing in theaters worldwide.
