Every long-running franchise eventually establishes its own set of tropes and trappings for better than worse, but based on the first trailer for Kraven the Hunter, Sony is destined to fall into many of the same holes that have blighted its plans for a Marvel universe of its own from the very beginning.
Kicking off in classic Sony style, the footage wasn’t even supposed to be released until today, but the studio saw its hand forced when it leaked well ahead of time, something that befell Spider-Man: No Way Home and Venom: Let There Be Carnage prior to their respective debuts when visual spoilers were everywhere you looked online.
Based on the cringeworthy and on-the-nose dialogue, the screenplay is also shaping up to turn out exactly how you’d expect given the contributions from the minds responsible for the panned Punisher: War Zone, abhorrent Transformers: The Last Knight, catastrophic Men in Black: International, and entirely underwhelming Uncharted to name but four.
Naturally, there is a shot of spiders perilously dangling from overhead, as if you needed any more reminders that Kraven the Hunter takes place in a saga known as Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, while the “magic blood” trope is also making a most unwelcome comeback having previously featured in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Venom, Let There Be Carnage, and Morbius in one way or another.
On the plus side, it could prove to be brutally R-rated blast of cinematic escapism, while director J.C. Chandor and star Aaron Taylor-Johnson are both supremely and undeniably talented at their chosen craft, but there’s a long way to go before Kraven the Hunter convinces anyone it isn’t going to be just another half-baked Sony superhero blockbuster.
