Kraven the Hunter (2024) review

While on a hunting trip in Africa with his criminal kingpin father Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe) and his meek brother Dmitri (Billy Barratt), Sergei (Levi Miller) is snagged by a gigantic lion and nearly killed, but local girl Calypso (Diaana Babnicova) gives him a mysterious potion that saves his life; as an adult, Sergei (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) reconnects with Calypso (Ariana DeBose), who's a successful attorney, and uses his hunting abilities to save a kidnapped Dmitri (Fred Hechinger) from the Rhino (Alessandro Nivola).  Although I do appreciate having the Kraven character eliminate poachers, that's about the only redeemable component of this Marvel-Does-Daddy-Issues disaster, with abysmal dialogue, unintentionally humorous moments (the last shot is out of a feature for GQ magazine) and Crowe having a grand ol' time hamming it up with his Russian accent.  Considering the sizeable budget one might have hoped the CGI would have been better but it seems as if they're cutting corners; like Madame Web, this could possibly make some money back via streaming where audiences have lowered expectations and/or treat the movie as a "natural" sleeping aid.