Movie: Kraven the Hunter (2024) Caution Spoiler Alert

 Kraven the Hunter

Came out; 2024

Time; 2 hour 7 Minutes

Watched: Amazon

Rated: R for strong bloody violence and language

IMDB Rating; 5.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes:

Tomato Meter 16%

Popcorn Meter 74%

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven

Fred Hechinger as Dmitri Kravinoff

Ariana DeBose as Calypso Ezili

Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Sytsevich

Christopher Abbot as The Foreigner

Russell Crowe as Nikolai Kravinoff

Story Line;

In Siberia, the prisoner Sergei Kravinoff kills the drug lord Semyon Chorney in a maximum-security prison and flees to meet his partner that is waiting for him in an airplane. While traveling back home, Sergei recalls his saga sixteen years ago, when his father Nikolai Kravinoff travels with his brother Dmitri "Dima" to Tanzania for a hunting trip to prepare them to take over his drug trafficking business in the future. When Nikolai hits a lion, the wounded animal will attack Dima, but Serge protects him. Seriously injured, a girl named Calypso finds him, gives a potion to him and calls assistance, saving his life. She leaves a tarot card with him, and Sergei is miraculously healed. When his father shows the head of the lion as a trophy, Sergei leaves him and goes to the sanctuary that belonged to his mother in Russia. Nowadays, Sergei is a vigilante and urban legend known as Kraven, the Hunter, who hunts criminals. During Dmitri's birthday, Kraven travels to London to celebrate with his brother. But Dmitri is kidnapped and Nikolai refuses to pay the 20 million-dollar-ransom. Now Kraven has to find the man behind the abduction. Aleksei "Rhino" Sytsevich is a powerful competitor of Nikolai that participated in an experiment that gave him the power and strength of a rhinoceros. He hired mercenaries and the Foreigner-who uses hypnotism to defeat his enemies. He has plans to destroy Kraven by using his brother as a bait however Kraven teams up with Calypso (who is now a lawyer in London) to help him in his quest to release Dmitri from his captors.

Thoughts:

I like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, I always forget he was Kick Ass. He's a great actor

however this movie wasn't it.

The acting was fine, I didn't care much for Russell Crowe as the dad with his Russian accent BUT the CGI was bad, the story line was mediocre and the script seemed to be all over the place

It really had potential, it had a great start but it didn't keep up

CAUTION; Spoiler Alert

After his mother dies, Sergei Kravinoff and his half-brother Dmitri are abducted by their father Nikolai so that they can be ready to take over his drug trafficking business.

After saving his brother from a lion while hunting in Africa, Sergei suffers a fatal wound.

When he is on the verge of death, a girl named Calypso finds him.

She calls for help and gives him a serum, leaving a tarot card behind.

Her grandmother had warned her that she would step in during an accident and grant its victim great power.

After learning that his physical characteristics have turned animistic, Sergei becomes disgusted by Nikolai's actions and runs away to a secret sanctuary his mother owned in Russia after he tells him that he killed the lion to teach his sons a lesson.

After several years, Sergei-who goes by Kraven now-works as a vigilante, eradicating criminals.

Following his murder of an arms trafficker in a Russian jail, Kraven visits Dmitri's birthday in London.

He goes for a walk that night because he can not sleep, which results in Dmitri being taken prisoner by mercenaries.

After Nikolai declines to pay the ransom, Kraven finds Calypso, who is now a lawyer, and persuades her to assist in locating his brother's abductors.

Aleksei Sytsevich, the leader of his kidnappers and a mercenary who participated in an experiment that gave him the strength and appearance of a rhinoceros, approaches Dmitri and offers to form an alliance to topple Nikolai.

Aleksei lures Dmitri to an abandoned monastery in Turkey after learning of Kraven's relationship with him, but Kraven escapes the ambush.

The Foreigner, an assassin who has spent years studying Kraven's attack patterns and uses ocular hypnosis to confuse his targets, then approaches him and offers to kill him.

Aleksei and the Foreigner track Kraven and Calypso to his sanctuary, use Dmitri as bait, and ambush Kraven when he tries to kill them.

The Foreigner attacks him after giving him a neurotics drug, but Calypso uses a crossbow to kill him and bring Kraven back to life.

He then traps Aleksei with a stampede of buffaloes, and although he transforms into the Rhino and momentarily defeats Kraven, he is speared to death.

After realizing that Nikolai was the one who told Aleksei about him, Kraven follows his father to a forest in Siberia to get answers.

Nikolai admits that he knew Aleksei was after him and used his sons to get rid of him.

Kraven steals his father's ammunition so that a bear will kill him instead of killing him.

When Dmitri learns that Kraven has acquired shape shifting skills from the doctor who experimented on Aleksei, he disowns Kraven, claiming that despite his moral superiority claims, he and Nikolai were just big game hunters looking for their next big trophy.

Kraven accepts his brother's claims when he finds a note from Nikolai at home and a vest made from the skin of a long-dead lion, which he puts on.