KRAVEN THE HUNTER ★1⁄2 (MA) 127 minutes I’ve pondered this before, but the riddle remains: in an age of increasing sensitivity to the perils of cross-ethnic casting, why are all restrictions lifted when it comes to playing Russians? The latest star to take advantage of this freedom is Russell Crowe as gang boss Nikolai Kravinoff, a gruff, heavily accented bear of a man, pouring out the vodka and lamenting America has made his sons soft. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (left) and Russell Crowe play father and son in Kraven the Hunter. In the event, Nikolai has nothing to worry about when it comes to his elder son, Sergei – the title character and hero of Kraven the Hunter , played in his sensitive youth by Australia’s Levi Miller, and in his ruthless prime by British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who does have some Russian ancestry, for what that’s worth).
Long-term Marvel comic fans will know Kraven started out as a Spider-Man villain, like Venom and Morbius. But Sony, which owns the rights, has followed its usual procedure by turning him into a good guy and giving him a screen vehicle of his own – nowadays a standard way of capitalising on an asset, like building hotels in Monopoly. The refashioned Kraven backstory is a convoluted one, starting in Ghana, where he’s mauled almost to death by a lion, then revived by a magical potion.
Twenty years on, he’s morphed into a superpowered cross between Tarzan and Rambo, battling poachers in the wilderness when not hunting down .