Kraven the Hunter: Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes on a lion hunt led by his overbearing and unsympathetic widowed father (Russell Crowe). During the hunt, Kraven is fatally mauled by an almost mythic lion but is saved by a potion, mixed with some of the lion’s blood, given to him by a future voodoo priestess, Calypso. The serum grants Kraven superhuman strength, speed, and senses, which he uses to hunt criminals, poachers, and other enhanced baddies.

Kraven could have been a better film. It’s a 95-minute movie crammed into 127 minutes. The most serious flaws are the CGI effects, the ending, and an excess of unnecessary drama. The subpar CGI disrupts the immersion in an action-heavy movie, while the ending focuses too much on setting up sequels and spinoffs, detracting from the action scenes. Resolving his father issues would have served as a fitting end to the movie, but the writers were likely beholden or burdened by the suits on the business end of the studio lot.

Genre: Action—Adventure—Drama–Thriller

Directed by: J.C. Chandor

Screenplay by: Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch, Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine

Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe

Film Location: Iceland, London, Scotland

ElsBob: 5.5/10

IMDb: 5.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 16%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 74%

Metacritic Metascore: 35%

Metacritic User Score: 4.5/10

Theaters: 13 December 2024

Runtime: 127 minutes

Budget: $110-130 million

Box Office: $59.5 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: Kraven the Hunter Trailer, copyright Sony.