Kraven The Hunter

Let us be reminded of a glorious moment in cinema history that will forever be remembered especially by comic book lovers. Let us go back to February of 2024 when the film Madame Web opened up in cinemas worldwide that was the latest ( at that time ) Sony Pictures superhero movie after they had released several Spider-Man movies and Morbius as well. The hype of the film Madame Web was kind of big at that moment because we would get to see actress Dakota Johnson ( mostly known as her character Anastasia in the Fifty Shades Of Grey franchise ) as the superhero character Madame Web. What happened after the premiere weekend of Madame Web was a disaster, not only the box office numbers but even actress Dakota Fanning regretted being in this film who even left her agency WME because of this film. Reviews of Madame Web was in general really bad where some movie critics already predicted that this could be one of the worst movies of 2024. I even remember reading one film critic from England calling this one of the worst superhero movies he have ever seen. I have never honestly never read any of the comic books of Madame Web so i basically knew nothing about her. As a kid i always read The Incredible Hulk at our local comic book store and Conan The Barbarian, so Madame Web was someone i knew nothing about. I did see the film Madame Web but not until it landed on VOD so i could rent it. I will say this it´s not the worst comic book inspired film i have seen ( that could be the 1990 film Captain America from director Albert Pyun, a really terrible film in so many ways ) but i can understand why people dislike this film. It has a lot of problems such as terrible acting, bad dialogue, bad CGI effects and a story that´s not interesting. Madame Web ended up getting 6 nominations to the Razzie Awards 2025 and ended up winning three awards. Not bad right? Speaking of Sony Pictures late last year they released their superhero movie known as Kraven The Hunter, a film that also became a box office bomb like Madame Web but at least had some more positive reviews. I was supposed to see this film in cinema but waited for the blu ray release instead and picked up a copy. Is this film far more better than Madame Web or is this just as bad or possibly even worse than i expected?

Crime lord and drug trafficker Nikolai Kravinoff ( Russel Crowe ) is taking his two sons, Sergei Kravinoff and his half-brother Dimitri to a hunting trip in Ghana after they find out their mother killed herself. During the hunting trip a lion suddenly appear and Sergei is badly injured by the lion while he tried to protect his brother. The lion carry Nikolai away as a young woman named Calypso watches the lion drop him infront of her. Calypso heals him with a serum and calls for rescue, leaving a tarot card behind. Sergei wakes up at the hospital and finds out he was declared dead for a few minutes and clearly something has happened to him. He begin to learn that he have physical attributes that are animalistic. When Sergei finds out his father Nikolai killed the lion to teach his sons a lesson, a disgusted Sergei flees to a sanctuary owned by his mother in Russia. Sixteen years later, Sergei ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson ), now going by Kraven, is a vigilante who hunts criminals. After killing an arms trafficker in a Russian prison, Kraven travels to London for Dimitri´s ( Fred Hechinger ) birthday. The reunion is short-lived when mercenaries abduct Dimitri. When Nikolai refuses to pay the ransom, Kraven tracks down Calypso ( Ariana DeBose ), now working as a lawyer, and convinces her to help

Remember the action horror film The Last Witch Hunter from 2015 with Vin Diesel kicking witches ass? Kraven The Hunter reminds me of that type of action film, it feels like a throwback to simple action films of the 90´s with super powers and no complicated plot is needed. I am actually a fan of The Last Witch Hunter and in fact this is one of my personal favourite Vin Diesel films. Kraven The Hunter is not as entertaining as that film but i still appreciate what they were trying to do here. This is a very simple film in so many ways and to be honest that can actually be a good thing. If you just want to be entertained and don´t need things to be complicated then this could be something that you would appreciate. Since i have not read the Kraven The Hunter comic books i don´t know the background story. This film does tell you how he got his super powers and how the lion attack led him on a completely new path in life. So let´s get into the positive regarding Kraven The Hunter and let me say that the action scenes are fun enough to appreciate. I wouldn´t say they are unique in any way but for a superhero movie i would say there are some scenes where they manage to find the right balance. There are some unexpected brutal action scenes where bodies get ripped open, i do appreciate that. His way to communicate with animals reminded me of the classic adventure 1982 film The Beastmaster with Marc Singer ( which is worth checking out if you have not seen it ) except Kraven clearly have more super powers than The Beastmaster. Lead actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson is alright in the lead role as Kraven, not a unique performance in any way not matches the character. Ok so some of my issues with this film. The acting from Russel Crowe as Kraven´s father Nikolai is not a good performance. We have seen Russel do several great performances over the years but here is not even trying and his Russian accent is honestly terrible. The film feels a bit too long, some dialogue scenes are way too stretched out and uninteresting for you to care about their conversations. At the end of the day Kraven The Hunter is not a superhero movie that will be remembered for being different. Interesting that this film is directed by J.C. Chandor ( director of the really good crime drama A Most Violent Year ), and this is without a doubt his most polished Hollywood film for sure. This is a very simple film made purely to entertain people who just want action scenes and bad dialogue. If this is your thing then i would say give this film a chance. Definetely a better choice than Madame Web.

Rating: DDD

In Memory Of Val Kilmer

Greetings everyone.

This is a very sad day when im doing this blog post after hearing that actor Val Kilmer passed away at the young age of 65 years old this week. Since i was a lot in VHS rental stores during the 80´s of my childhood i remember seeing Val Kilmer on VHS shelves in films such as Top Secret! and Real Genius. By that time i had seen Top Gun of course and let´s be honest, without Val Kilmer as his iconic character Iceman this film would have never been the same. Iceman was the man every man wanted to be and will always be one of the true 80´s legendary characters. In 1988 it was so awsome to see Val Kilmer take on the role as Madmartigan in legendary director Ron Howard´s high fantasy adventure Willow. I remember seeing this film on VHS after it was released here in Sweden renting the film with my grandfather. Seeing Val Kilmer as a swordsman was really fun and he had great chemistry with actor Warwick Davis as the main character Willow Ufgood. Willow had everything you could wish for in an 80´s sword fantasy film and this is a film you simply have to see. For me personally it was in the year of 1991 when Val Kilmer proved his incredible acting abilities in legendary director Oliver Stone´s American biographical film The Doors. A film that tells the story of the legendary American rock band The Doors where Val Kilmer gives an amazing performance as The Doors singer Jim Morrison. To really understand what a great actor Val Kilmer really was you simply have to see The Doors. In my opinion no one could play Jim Morrison other than Val Kilmer, he was the perfect casting choice for this character. In the 90´s he continued delivering unforgettable films such as Thunderheart, Tombstone, True Romance ( this is one you simply have to see ), Heat and of course playing Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever. This is a film that have divided a lot of Batman fans, some fans love it while others have issues with it. I personally feel that Val Kilmer did what he could with his Bruce Wayne character and i do think he did a good job acting in the Batman suit. The cast in this fim with Chris O´Donell, Nicole Kidman, Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones and martial arts legend Don "The Dragon" Wilsson in a smaller rolle, all of this makes Batman Forever a fun ride with the unique style of director Joel Schumacher.

After releasing several films during the late 90´s i feel that Val made some interesting choices regarding different characters and different genres of films. For example in the year 2000 he played the character Robby Gallagher, an engineer in the sci fi action film Red Planet. A film that didn´t do well at all at the box office but found an audience on VHS and DVD instead. In fact i actually bought a DVD copy of Red Planet to several of my movie nerd fans back in the day. Red Planet is actually not a terrible film, i think the film has a cool look and i do like the acting performances from actors Carrie Anne Moss, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker, Tom Sizemore and legendary actor Terence Stamp. If you are a Val Kilmer fan i think you should check this film out, seeing him do a big budget science fiction film like this is a fun reminder of his diversity in trying different genres. In the year of 2002 we saw Val Kilmer play the wild character Danny Parker in the neon-noir crime thriller The Salton Sea. This is quite different film experience in Val´s career and this film almost have some Quentin Tarantino vibes in the style of this film. Another really good performance by Val and i have to appreciate how bizarre this film is in certain places from director D.J. Caruso. Let´s move forward to the year of 2003 when Val Kilmer got some positive reviews not only for his performance as the adult film character John Holmes, but the film Wonderland did get some positive reviews as well ( except from some, for different reasons ). I think Val did a great job playing legendary adult film actor John Holmes and this film have a very impressive cast with actors such as Kate Bosworth, Carrie Fischer, Lisa Kudrow, Josh Lucas, Christina Applegate, Tim Blake Nelson and Janeane Garofalo. The look of the film matches with the time period and captures the look of the adult movie insudstry as well the crimes that were commited during this time. A film worth picking up on DVD if you are interested in the story of adult actor John Holmes and what a crazy life he lived. Just 2 years after Wonderland came out Val Kilmer released one of my personal favourite films in his career in the film known as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with legendary actor Robert Downey Jr. This is such a fun neo-noir black comedy crime film from director Shane Black and the acting performances between Val and Robert are both brilliant and you simply have to see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ( i know the title is silly but i promise this is a really good film ).

We can go on for hours talking about some of the amazing films Val Kilmer did in his long movie career but you might have some good advices now of films you should check out. The memories of Val will always be with us and we are grateful for the cinema magic he gave us for so many years. Let´s all check out his different films and remember the good times and i will be doing a special movie tribute review of Val Kilmer to one of his films called Spartan from 2004, directed by David Mamet ( who directed the 2001 crime drama film Heist with Gene Hackman ).

R.I.P. Val Kilmer