This movie could've worked and Sony made sure it didn't.
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About once a year the movie world gets its own version of a LOL-cow. Basically a movie so bad that everyone agrees it is ok to shit on. Reviewers and viewers alike get to go to town on it, the movie bombs, and everyone gets to feel much smarter than a studio executive (which they always should those folks are dumb as shiiiiiit). The reviews and reactions are often so strong that you might start to wonder, is it really that bad? Either that or you get morbidly curious and decide you want to add your shit-talking review to the pile. Regardless of where I started, I'm ending up in that second camp because this movie is trash. And I want to talk about why it's trash from a bunch of perspectives, that explain why terrible movies keep getting made and why promising ideas fall apart.
The Setup
The movie follows, Sergei Kravinoff the son of a Russian gangster who after being attacked by a lion, is revived and granted supernatural animal-like abilities. Determined to use his abilities for good, he becomes "The Hunter," an urban legend vigilante who takes out major criminals. But when a criminal targets Sergei's allies, he'll have to use all of his abilities and make some new friends to survive and save his brother's life.
I'm going to start off by saying something controversial. I think this movie could have worked. I think it would've bombed regardless of its quality, but broadly speaking a Kraven the Hunter movie, with this group, could've work.
I generally like J.C. Candor as a director, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and the rest of the cast suit their parts well (i.e. I've never seen Russell Crowe phone a damn thing in) and the action sequences are ridiculous, but also feature some solid choreography when Kraven is tearing through heavily armed goons. So the production pieces seem alright (minus the effects, but we'll come back to that).
It's gotta be the script then.
The appeal of Kraven is that he's a bad guy with a code. He has a strong sense of honor, abhors firearms like guns, and takes a lot of pride in his abilities and physical prowess. He's a big-game hunter that wants to constantly challenge himself. And while he does have some enhanced abilities, he doesn't have Spider-Man's strength. He's much more of a "guy" than half of the Spider-Man villains.
Admittedly, "big-game" hunter is a bit gross, so let's maybe make him more pro-animal, and have him hunt the hunters, while refusing to play by their rules (aka no guns). Now there's an idea.
Admittedly, "big-game" hunter is a bit gross, so let's maybe make him more pro-animal, and have him hunt the hunters, while refusing to play by their rules (aka no guns). Now there's an idea.
And this seems to be the general baseline...that the movie morphed into a superhuman version of the Marvel vigilante the Punisher.
But why would a studio do that? Especially when The Punisher exists in the Marvel canon.
And here's where the studio fuckery really starts to rear its head.
And here's where the studio fuckery really starts to rear its head.
For years, Sony have been trying to capitalize on their most valuable intellectual property, Spider-Man. The problem is, they suck at it. Their last efforts to make Spider-Man movies without Marvel were not well-received, folks seem to the really like the Marvel ones, which has left Sony holding what to them appears to be a very valuable bag to pull form. So let's pull in side characters like Morbius.
Again not a terrible idea...if you're not trying to make a Spider-Man level hit. But Sony clearly wants a Marvel Spider-Man level hit and keep trying to mold these movies into that.
Which means Kraven is no longer a kinda strong guy with enhanced senses or a dark antihero, he's just a superhero who kills criminals. That also means that his set pieces go from grounded unarmed man versus heavily armed goons into...man chasing a car by making its speed type of sequences.
It really feels like every bad decision this movie makes cascades from here. If Kraven is as powerful as Spider-Man your set pieces need to be as big as a Spider-Man movie. Which means we've got to get J.C Chandor out of his tactical action comfort zone and do some giant CGI heavy sequences. And let's bring in another Spider-Man villain with animal qualities so it lines up. Does that require even more CGI heavy set pieces? Yes it does. We're even trying to replicate Captain America: Civil War type beats because we can.
How does this relate to the Punisher stuff? Oh right the Punisher stuff, he's been killing criminals because....he's mad at his dad?
There's a profound lack of focus in this script which means we don't know anything about Kraven as a character or a person besides what he does. We know he likes animals and his brother, doesn't like to hurt innocent people, and hates his dad, because he's a criminal who nearly got him and his brother killed, but also won't kill his dad because...? Never addressed.
This is how a pitch that would've worked, or at least made a decent movie, turns into a hodgepodge of trash.
Here's an easy-as-hell pitch for you for this movie to show you how simple this could have and should have been.
The Pitch
The movie opens with Kraven hunting a lion played like a stealth scene. He sneaks up on it. Narrowly avoids detection multiple times. He's feet from his pray. And then we see the glint of a gun-barrel. We pan out to see a team of hunters all bearing down on this pride. Until Kraven begins to hack and slash his way through a group of trophy hunters as the lions scatter to safety, and Kraven saves his final kill for the guy wearing his traditional suit made of animal prints (you can make it tactical if you want). Cut to Kraven wearing it, as if it's that guy's skin vs. the lions.
We quickly learn that Kraven is a defender of the local wildlife from poachers and has been since he was a young boy who was brought in on a hunting trip, where he almost died, thanks to his father's negligence, after he saved his brother from an attack. (See these beats from the original movie all fit in) Kraven is presumed dead at the local hospital and left by his father due to his "weakness," but is revived thanks to some locals who continue his care, that also gives him his slightly enhanced abilities.
He hasn't seen or heard from his father or brother since and has been earning a reputation as "the Hunter who kills Hunters."
But his activities haven't gone unnoticed from criminals who garner a lot of value from their poaching/hunting activities and decide to descend upon the local communities to flush Kraven out. One of which is...his brother.
But his activities haven't gone unnoticed from criminals who garner a lot of value from their poaching/hunting activities and decide to descend upon the local communities to flush Kraven out. One of which is...his brother.
I don't think this would've been hard to do, and likely would've cost less money and taken less time to shoot.
All bad movies are damned by at least one bad decision. If your director or lead actor are bad, it's really hard for your movie to recover. What's so frustrating about Kraven the Hunter is that is has "studio meddling" all over it.
This movie could've worked and Sony made sure it didn't.
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