Kraven the Hunter (2024)

[LoneWolfSones]

So I have not seen the film myself. I skipped it when the reviews came out and Sony didn't exactly do much to convince me to roll the dice and take a gamble on Kraven.

Madame Webb was apparently as reviews would suggest; awful.

I did see Venom and Let there Be Carnage. So I will start there.

Venom was flawed but enjoyable. The first Venom film had something about it that worked. It's camp felt in line with the character. And I think a lot of what made Venom work was Tom Hardy's Charisma. The visual effects were decent enough as well and a definite improvement over Spider-Man 3's take on the character.

Let there Be Carnage then had high expectations. The first time we would get to see Venom and Carnage go at it on the big screen. Wood Harrelson was a good casting for Serial killer Cassidy.

If we think about monster films? One of the rules is "Don't show the monster" to build suspense, etc. That can work to a point. But this is a comic book film. Marketed as the appearance of Carnage and then you spend the majority of the film not showing Carnage? Naturally, audiences are going to be let down and feel misled or hoodwinked. Think about Deadpool and Wolverine. They clearly put the character names in the title. Imagine if we spent 3/4 of Deadpool and Wolverine and didn't see Wolverine Until the final act? Deadpool and Wolverine bring Logan in pretty damned early and they were self-aware enough to know why the audience was there. "Alright F' it, let's give the people what they came for" is what Deadpool says in his characteristic 4th wall-breaking. The plot may have been lighter, but people left entertained.

But I think there is an even bigger issue that is staring Sony in the face. Spider-man villains often don't work standalone. Part of what makes them compelling is their connection to Peter Parker. Would Curt Conners' Lizard be as interesting if not for the fact he is a professor/mentor to Peter who's project goes horribly wrong? Would Doctor Otto Octavius be as interesting if not for his ties to Peter? "Brilliant but Lazy."

Now they might get by with a Otto Octavius as the Superior Spider-Man but there again, that story is so heavily reliant on Peter Parker being the lynchpin.

And Kraven was a utter waste. People typically care less about where Kraven came from or his backstory. And that is something that didn't need a 2-2.5 hour film to deliver. What would have made a better film is Kraven's last hunt. But we didn't get that. These films are Sony throwing crap at the wall and seeing what will stick.

Its like Sony looked at Joker and took all the wrong lessons from it. Joker can work because there is more material there to work with IMO. They did keep the references to Wayne/Batman somewhat minimal. And then Joker 2 happened so...

If people liked the film that's fine. I just think Sony needs to take a serious look at why these films without Spider-Man are failing. There is a common denominator among all of them.

[Hellraiserfan]

Got around to watching this last night.

I'm quite surprised but I actually enjoyed it as a one time watch. Once again Sony is being silly trying to create a shared universe with Spider-Man villains....without Spider-Man but this film was alright. Better than Morbius at least which might not be saying much.

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by Hellraiserfan

Once again Sony is being silly trying to create a shared universe with Spider-Man villains....without Spider-Man

TBF their original plan was to have these take place in the MCU like Agents Of SHIELD was. Then studio politics and reshoots resulting from them happened............

[Hellraiserfan]

Originally Posted by Mikezilla3k

TBF their original plan was to have these take place in the MCU like Agents Of SHIELD was. Then studio politics and reshoots resulting from them happened............

Well that's lame.

Now I remember that Morbius end credit scene with Keaton as Vulture.

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by Hellraiserfan

Well that's lame.

Now I remember that Morbius end credit scene with Keaton as Vulture.

Yeah, if you were ever wondering why it was so wack, it was because it was frankensteined together from other scenes and reshoots/ADR.

There's a reason why the trailer (first released only a month after FFH came out and had the film coming out in 2020) initially showed him as well as the "Murderer" signs.

[VictoryAtNight]

The digital is $10 on the Xbox store and it includes a bonus. This is tempting……..

[KManX89]

Originally Posted by LoneWolfSones

So I have not seen the film myself. I skipped it when the reviews came out and Sony didn't exactly do much to convince me to roll the dice and take a gamble on Kraven.

Madame Webb was apparently as reviews would suggest; awful.

I did see Venom and Let there Be Carnage. So I will start there.

Venom was flawed but enjoyable. The first Venom film had something about it that worked. It's camp felt in line with the character. And I think a lot of what made Venom work was Tom Hardy's Charisma. The visual effects were decent enough as well and a definite improvement over Spider-Man 3's take on the character.

Let there Be Carnage then had high expectations. The first time we would get to see Venom and Carnage go at it on the big screen. Wood Harrelson was a good casting for Serial killer Cassidy.

If we think about monster films? One of the rules is "Don't show the monster" to build suspense, etc. That can work to a point. But this is a comic book film. Marketed as the appearance of Carnage and then you spend the majority of the film not showing Carnage? Naturally, audiences are going to be let down and feel misled or hoodwinked. Think about Deadpool and Wolverine. They clearly put the character names in the title. Imagine if we spent 3/4 of Deadpool and Wolverine and didn't see Wolverine Until the final act? Deadpool and Wolverine bring Logan in pretty damned early and they were self-aware enough to know why the audience was there. "Alright F' it, let's give the people what they came for" is what Deadpool says in his characteristic 4th wall-breaking. The plot may have been lighter, but people left entertained.

But I think there is an even bigger issue that is staring Sony in the face. Spider-man villains often don't work standalone. Part of what makes them compelling is their connection to Peter Parker. Would Curt Conners' Lizard be as interesting if not for the fact he is a professor/mentor to Peter who's project goes horribly wrong? Would Doctor Otto Octavius be as interesting if not for his ties to Peter? "Brilliant but Lazy."

Now they might get by with a Otto Octavius as the Superior Spider-Man but there again, that story is so heavily reliant on Peter Parker being the lynchpin.

And Kraven was a utter waste. People typically care less about where Kraven came from or his backstory. And that is something that didn't need a 2-2.5 hour film to deliver. What would have made a better film is Kraven's last hunt. But we didn't get that. These films are Sony throwing crap at the wall and seeing what will stick.

Its like Sony looked at Joker and took all the wrong lessons from it. Joker can work because there is more material there to work with IMO. They did keep the references to Wayne/Batman somewhat minimal. And then Joker 2 happened so...

If people liked the film that's fine. I just think Sony needs to take a serious look at why these films without Spider-Man are failing. There is a common denominator among all of them.

TBH the Sony Mediocre Spider-Man Universe might be the worst film saga in existence or at least right up there. And I’m including the quickly-scrapped Dark Universe consisting of only the terrible Tom Cruise Mummy and the Fox Fantastic Four films in that.

Venom 1 was dumb fun/entertaining dreck at best. It has its moments and there’s things to like, but is it a good film through thick and thin? Not really.

Venom: Let There Be Garbage was terrible filled with plot holes galore, wastes Cletus Kassady on a stupid Shriek love story that goes nowhere in which

[Show spoiler]Venom and Carnage don’t even meet until the final scene

capped off by a mediocre shaky cam, poorly-CG’ed fight, and they doubled down on the dumb, juvenile kids humor. No, that’s not a good thing.

Then came Morbius, which somehow managed to be even worse with an even more directionless plot and worse pacing.

Then came Madame Web, which might legitimately be one of the worst films ever made. Not just CBMs, but movies, period. There’s not a single thing I can say was even approaching decent about that turd of a movie.

Then came Kraven the Hunter and Venom: the Last Dance, which I haven’t watched them yet, but have once again heard nothing but awful things about both. Given their track record with anything live-action Spider-Man (or live-action, period) since 2007, it’s a pretty safe bet they will be whenever that day comes (obviously it was never gonna be in the theater).

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by VictoryAtNight

The digital is $10 on the Xbox store and it includes a bonus. This is tempting……..

If you're a fan of the actor, he gives a decent performance as Kraven. The story is okay and the action decent. A decent action movie but this is most certainly a nice guy Kraven, which kind of defeats the purpose that Kraven was a bad guy most of all from what I understood seeing him in the Spider-Man games.

I'll consider this on DVD/bluray at $5, the cost of a DVD rental back in the Blockbuster days.

[KManX89]

I just watched it and Venom: the Last Dance on Netflix. Yes, I watched both shitbiscuits on the same day so I could be done with these wretched movies. Holy f*ck this was awful. Movie was so boring with plot contrivances you could fly a plane through and wooden acting from everybody, and I do mean everybody with some of the worst dialog I’ve ever heard. I’ve never seen Russell Crowe so… uninterested in all my life. And the action scenes were pretty pedestrian.

This is worse than Morbius and almost as bad as Madame Web. So glad I don’t have to waste any more of my time on these terrible Spider-Man Universe Without Spider-Man movies. To be frank, Venom 3 wasn’t much better (yes, it was also terrible). So that makes Sony 0-6 on these godawful excuses for movies.

[Mr. Chaverria]

Originally Posted by KManX89

I just watched it and Venom: the Last Dance on Netflix. Yes, I watched both shitbiscuits on the same day so I could be done with these wretched movies. Holy f*ck this was awful. Movie was so boring with plot contrivances you could fly a plane through and wooden acting from everybody, and I do mean everybody with some of the worst dialog I’ve ever heard. I’ve never seen Russell Crowe so… uninterested in all my life. And the action scenes were pretty pedestrian.

This is worse than Morbius and almost as bad as Madame Web. So glad I don’t have to waste any more of my time on these terrible Spider-Man Universe Without Spider-Man movies. To be frank, Venom 3 wasn’t much better (yes, it was also terrible). So that makes Sony 0-6 on these godawful excuses for movies.

That's the beauty of streaming at times. Don't have to pay an extra dime for films like these cuz you've already the service.

[drb999]

Kraven had good action but the plot was very pedestrian. Who signed off on The Foreigner’s horrible hair style? Looked like a wig. And this suffered from let’s kill off a major villain in one movie syndrome. Morbius was better. Barely 3 stars.

[VictoryAtNight]

I finally watched the digital that I bought many months ago. This is decent. It is not terrible.

[VictoryAtNight]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

If you're a fan of the actor, he gives a decent performance as Kraven. The story is okay and the action decent. A decent action movie but this is most certainly a nice guy Kraven, which kind of defeats the purpose that Kraven was a bad guy most of all from what I understood seeing him in the Spider-Man games.

I'll consider this on DVD/bluray at $5, the cost of a DVD rental back in the Blockbuster days.

GameFly is selling the Blu-ray for $10 + shipping.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by VictoryAtNight

GameFly is selling the Blu-ray for $10 + shipping.

Thanks. Good to know. I think we'll see it hit $5 this Thanksgiving November too.