There’s an ounce of truth in every myth…

Oh Kraven, where to even begin. In truth, I have never been a fan of the so called Sonyverse. A universe where Spider-Man villains take paramount and become heroes rather than stick to their antagonistic roots. On paper, its actually an interesting idea. Create a cinematic universe of Spider-Mans rogues gallery, each villain getting their chance to shine, with it eventually culminating in all of them teaming up to take down their one true threat, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Sounds awesome right? No, no, no, that sounds like way too much work. How about this, instead of letting bad guys be bad guys, we let them be heroes, never even show any of them interact with their main nemesis, say that the films are connected, and then have no overarching connections from film to film, sound like a plan? This must have been the thought process for the creative heads at Sony, because each film in this so-called universe is a laughingstock in their own right. If you’ve made it this far you can probably already assume my feelings towards Kraven: The Hunter. Regardless, let’s find out just how bad Kraven is on Gaber’s Two Cents.

Kraven’s opening twenty minutes is actually a good time. From a surprisingly violent execution to an invigorating jailbreak scene, it almost made me think that I was in good hands. I was wrong however, because shortly after we are treated to quite possibly one of the most boring and redundant origin sequences I have ever seen on film.

Kraven gains his abilities after being mauled by fierce lion (a CGI monstrosity I might add) and is then found by a random girl that just so happens to be visiting Africa on vacation with her family. This random girl then gives Kraven a potion that was just given to her by her magical grandma no less than thirty minutes before said mauling occurred. Does this sound utterly confusing as hell to anyone else? That’s because it is. The plot holes within this entire sequence are laughable. I mean come on! Do you know how big the African Savannah is (5 million square miles), and this little girl just gains her own lion mauling Spider-Sense and knows exactly where this cat dragged Kraven’s lifeless body? It’s all utterly ridiculous and would actually enter it’s so bad it’s good territory if the rest of the film wasn’t so meandering.

The films pacing seems to putter and stop with every new turn of events as well. Right when it seems as if things are starting to go somewhere, we are transitioned to characters and subplots that we simply do not care about. One being the incomprehensible “Foreigner” antagonist. Granted, this guy is actually from the comics, but his transition to film is bizarre and redundant. He kind of just shows up gives an extremely ambiguous reason as to why he’s trying to make Kraven’s life hell. I can only assume maybe this was setting up something that would be explored in a sequel, but obviously those plans will not come to fruition (Thank God).

If there is one redeeming quality from Kraven, it would have to be its final confrontation with Kraven taking on the Rhino (another classic Spider-Man villain). While Rhino is far from comic accurate, he really does look the part. Although, he is a bit on the shorter side for my taste. The CGI for Rhino is also genuinely impressive and his sequence with Kraven has the best VFX in the entire film.

Will this be the final nail in the coffin for the Sonyverse Spider-Man films? I sure hope so. Sony already has a successful spidey franchise with their Miles Morales films, it’d be best if they stuck with what they are good at and halted all ideas that charter into unknown creative lands. All that and more is why Kraven: The Hunter received this particular, Cent Score.

Cent Score: 2 Cents

A lackluster experience, offering nothing beyond mediocrity.

Thanks for checking out this week’s Film piece. Feel free to tap the like button and leave a comment below. Don’t forget to subscribe if you want to be notified of new posts each week. See you all next time on Gaber’s Two Cents.