It’s Kraven time! The latest in Sony’s Marvel movies—which included the Venom films and Madame Web—will hit theaters this weekend. But, should you spend your hard-earned cash on Kraven the Hunter? Early reviews suggest that Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s R-rated Marvel movie is less-than-great, and will conclude Sony’s strange suite of Spider-Verse movies on a sour note.
As of this writing, Kraven the Hunter has a pitiful 14 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, putting it just slightly ahead of the hilariously derided Madame Web, which, has an 11 percent score. Kraven doesn’t have an audience score yet, so it’s possible the assessment of the film may improve once its seen by the general public, but, based on these early reviews, that seems unlikely. Critics have noted that Kraven has “cringe-inducing dialogue,” while on reviewer said “This isn't like Madame Web where you can at least laugh at how bad it is.”
Kraven the Hunter stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular supervillain who, in Marvel Comics, is a big game hunter and one of Spider-Man’s most deadly enemies. Kraven is part of “the Sinister Six,” a group of villains that in addition to Kraven, generally consists of Vulture, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Electro, Mysterio, and Chameleon. Because Sony has retained rights to Spider-Man characters over the years, the studio has been trying to make various Marvel villain movies work for quite some time. While Tom Hardy’s Venom movies are generally considered successful, efforts like Morbius, Madame Web, and now, Kraven, have all been low-key disasters.
Kraven coming out this week is a long time coming. Due to production delays, as well as complications caused by the 2023 strikes, the film's release date has been pushed back several times. Now, it seems, Kraven wasn't worth the wait.
That said, while the reviews a pretty horrible, it seems unlikely to hurt the career of star Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Long-considered a frontrunner to be the next James Bond, Taylor-Johnson shows no signs of slowing down. Even if Kraven is a complete flop, something tells us he’s going to land on his feet.
