esentful of his morally bankrupt father Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), young Sergei (Levi Miller) endures the endless talks of curbing fears and hunting animals to shield his younger half-brother Dmitri (Billy Barratt) from the old man’s wrath. When Sergei is savagely attacked by a lion on a hunting expedition orchestrated by Nikolai, he’s miraculously saved by Calypso Ezili and her ancient ancestral potion that grants him strength, agility, and a deep connection to nature. Sergei finally manages to escape his father’s overbearing eye soon after, but leaves Dmitri behind. Sixteen year later, Sergei has rebranded himself Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and dedicated his life to exterminating the world’s criminal warlords. When notoriously thick-skinned crime boss Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) discovers he’s in the superhuman assassin’s crosshairs, he devises a plan to hunt down the “The Hunter” first, waging a bloody war from London to Siberia.

Imprisoned, outnumbered, and unarmed, Kraven, impersonating prisoner 0864, doesn’t stand a chance during his introductory incarceration. Unless, of course, he’s super strong and invincible, which immediately gives him the upper hand and takes away any source of sympathy or underdog status. It’s just too easy and unsatisfying for a superhero to overtake measly human opponents. And yet, that’s exactly what happens over and over again.

Adding to Kraven’s unlikeable design is the unconvincing computer-animated movements that allow him to defy gravity – scaling walls as if a tiny weightless lizard and leaping great lengths like a gazelle – as well as the needless, shirtless, statuesque posing that lets audiences see him for the first time as an unclothed macho warrior. His is an exceptionally generic unveiling – the likes of which go on to plague every subsequent character, including a trusty helicopter pilot who never bothers to reveal her face. Calypso (Ariana DeBose), the hunter’s eventual sidekick, receives an equally bland first appearance, with her name repeated so many times that it becomes jarring, as if the writers desperately want audiences to remember her – but are certain that she’s forgettable.

Kraven’s origins are about as stupid as they come for these sorts of superhero flicks (though Madame Web’s may win out on sheer inanity), particularly as flashbacks arise to remind viewers of visuals that took place mere seconds prior, and fake-looking CG animals prance about, causing all sorts of temporary mayhem. His cold father (Crowe, once again enjoying his time as a despicable persona and relishing in the terrible material) is a completely straightforward, predictable counterpart, uttering lines that sound as if recycled from every pitiful nemesis in the history of screen nemeses. “Embrace who you really are.” “Fear will eat you.”

Though this rarer R-rated superhero entry hopes to present a harsher edge, primarily with its violence, it tends to cut away or fade out frequently, as if embarrassed about having bothered with the over-the-top gore. Even sporadic cursing is half-hearted; nothing the film does feels as if in earnest. But it hardly matters. The special effects are far from persuasive, struggling with superhuman movements and an abundance of animated animals (though who doesn’t enjoy a buffalo stampede now and again?). And the plot is just as disorganized and disheveled, playing out in minor episodes of virtually unrelated vigilante escapism. There may be concepts of justice being served, but they’re almost never cathartic.

“Hunting people down is sort of my thing,” insists Kraven, though after stating that, having tracked down Calypso through unexplainably flimsy means, immediately asks for her help in tracking down all the goons he’s unable to track down – whom she should be able to with ease. “You can find people I can’t …” Now how does that make any sense? Unfortunately, the meaningless relationships aren’t the worst of it; the freakish assemblage of antagonists couldn’t be less creative or less believable. A rhino-skinned mobster goes out of his way to detail how a skilled scientist set him up with his genie-wish-gone-awry superpowers, but a time-stopping hypnotist assassin doesn’t worry about having an explanation for his nonsensical abilities, which are far more specific and bizarre.

In the end, whether or not Kraven can be hurt by bullets or can simply dodge all of them doesn’t make a difference; it’s supremely boring to watch unconquerable super-people beat up on one another, especially when none of them are charismatic, unique, humorous, quirky, or clever. No one even has a motive that stands out. And the stunts, which should have been a highlight, are so bogged down by bad graphics and senseless choreography that they fail to inspire suspense. This is further frustrated by every action happening within seconds of needing to happen, or else every interaction loses its significance (most egregiously when characters catch sight of someone or something that changes their decisions in a split-second). If Sony’s efforts to give relatively unknown antiheroes big-budget, standalone features feels iffy after “Morbius” and “Madame Web,” it’s thoroughly unknowable with the debut of “Kraven the Hunter.”

– The Massie Twins