Review of 'Kraven the Hunter': Marvel borders on the margins

Every December, a hero comes to save us all from the prestigious awards season films. Do you need to turn off your brain? Fear not, “Kraven the Hunter” is here, a great take on comic book pie that requires no contemplation. For some, it may be just what the doctor ordered for a mid-December mental vacation.

“Kraven the Hunter” is a Marvel movie from Sony, the studio that has been producing standalone films for several obscure Spider-Man characters like Venom and Madame Web. Think a little silly and somewhat aware of the silliness of the whole endeavor. But if the surprisingly successful “Venom” movies rank highest on the scale of intelligent humor, “Kraven the Hunter” ranks lowest: Only a few contestants master the wink.

Kraven's character is an enemy of Spider-Man from the comics who has an affinity for animal prints and is so charming that he's more of an antihero than a supervillain. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and his abdominal muscles slip into Kraven's hides for the film, which is a very Spider-Man-like origin story: a boy has a near-death experience with a deadly animal and, Through a mystical and inexplicable transference, he receives specific information. Qualities of that animal that make up its superpowers.

Privileged but sad teenager Sergei Kravinoff (Levi Miller) is attacked by a lion on a hunting safari with his Russian gangster father, Nikolai (Russell Crowe). A mysterious potion revives him and he then runs away from home and goes to the wilds of eastern Russia, where he lives in a yurt and hunts bad guys for sport, ditching Kravinoff and adopting the name Kraven, also known as ” The Hunter.”

Miller and then Taylor-Johnson approach the role seriously, playing someone who loves animals and hunts only those he considers predators, like mafia bosses imprisoned in deepest Siberia. Director JC Chandor (“A Most Violent Year”), working from a script by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, is also serious about the film. But many of the character actors in supporting roles came to work ready to make it big.

There's Russell Crowe and his Russian accent, playing the big, bad Father Bear, against whom Kraven rebels. He claims that his father is an evil drug dealer, although we never see him do anything more than take his children on hunting trips and shame them for being weak. He's not a great father, okay, but his criminal bona fides don't come across on screen. Fred Hechinger co-stars as Sergei's younger brother Dmitri, torn between a brother who abandoned him and a father who criticizes him.

Then there's Alessandro Nivola, who gives a creepy performance as Aleksei Sytsevich, aka “The Rhino” (previously played in Paul Giamatti's “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”). Nivola seems to be the one most in on the joke, or the most willing to get weird, and with his strange accent and strange mannerisms, he makes the whole thing worth watching (his transformation is especially ridiculous). There's also the shocking appearance of indie darling Christopher Abbott as “The Stranger,” a character who can control time by counting “1, 2, 3.” I hope he had a good time beating up Taylor-Johnson.

We're not done yet: Ariana DeBose plays Calypso, operating in a similar register to Michelle Williams in “Venom,” but more out of her depth, with a wig she wears and a selection of costumes that look stolen from a movie from the 90s. Janet Jackson music video. Poor DeBose has some clunkers to deliver (her character constantly mouths what's happening on screen), but her stilted line readings don't help.

It would have been more fun to see Kraven hunt, but the film's action focuses on Dmitri's kidnapping and Kraven's desperate attempts to rescue his little brother. But the structure and editing are so strange that it feels like large chunks of exposition are missing, even though they weren't really necessary in the first place. Dodgy CGI, especially for the animals, and the obvious green screen inserts also show the seams of this project.

There's a certain pleasure in watching Taylor-Johnson (or her stunt double) deal with a speeding minivan or do parkour in “London,” and the star has enough charisma to barely hold this together. You'll laugh out loud when she finally puts on her short, fur-collared vest at the end of the movie, just as Ms. Web finally revealed her signature specs at the end of her movie. But aside from the obviously unintentional humor, the quality of “Kraven the Hunter” is very poor. Maybe that's all the recommendation you need to have a little fun at the movies.

Katie Walsh is a film critic for the Tribune News Service.