Kraven the Hunter

Many of the Marvel creations have been quite popular whereas most people have heard of them even before their respective films. When "Kraven the Hunter" was in production, there wasn't a plethora of buzz about it as with Marvel's other films. So when this film was released, it must've been a bit of a surprise for even the ardent Marvel fan. 

This is the action-packed, standalone story of how one of Marvel's most iconic villains came to be. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Sergei 'Kraven' Kravinoff, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless gangster father Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared. Kraven has to leave his home and tells his younger brother Dmitri (Fred Hechinger) that he will return, but their father is impeding Kraven of what he needs to do. 

Others to round out the cast are Ariana BeBose as Calypso Ezili, Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Sytsevich, Christopher Abbott as The Foreigner, Levi Miller as young Sergei, Billy Barratt as young Dmitri, Diaana Babnicova as young Calypso, Yuri Kolokolnikov as Semyon Chorney and Tom Reed as Bert. 

This was directed with plenty of grit and intensity by J.C. Chandor ("Margin Call" '11, "All is Lost" '13, "A Most Violent Year" '14, "Triple Frontier" '19) plus a short. This filmmaker was certainly able to sequence a fairly graphic film into something that completely holds one's attention. Of course, with Johnson in the title role, he simply made this character into the raw, vibrant and lethal man he could be, and that is talented directing. It was equally well penned by writers Richard Wenk and writing partners, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, based on a story by Richard Wenk, which is based on a Marvel comic with characters created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Usually if there is more than two writers on any given film, the script has a tendency to become bogged down with confusion with little cohesion. But, since all these writers are seasoned pros in the biz, it's no wonder that this was as exhilarating and compelling as it was. Really, other that a couple of places that were a little disjointed, this script simply rocked! The stunts, visual effects and special effects makeup were incredible as well. 

Certainly if you're a Marvel fan, you'll revel with this. I personally am not in love with the 'comic book films', however this was captivating and much to the credit of Johnson as Kraven. He was believable as he was incredible of how he handled his presence of this character, Kraven. It leaves open-ended, so will there be a number 2? If it makes a ton of money, it will assuredly happen. If you're into IMAX, it's also presented in that format as well. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                     Rated: R                                         127mins.