TMW #9: Kraven the Hunter, Queer and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim reviewed
The essential streaming and cinema reviews, plus further recommendations and the week's biggest trailers
Howdy,
Another week has almost finished, and so it follows that we’ve got a fresh batch of cinema and streaming releases to review. Today, we have the latest (and, by the sounds of it, last) Sony-Marvel Spidey-villain movie, Kraven the Hunter, in our crosshairs. Plus, Taron Egerton’s ‘Die Hard in airport security’ thriller Carry-On hits Netflix, Daniel Craig tackles William S. Burroughs in Queer and the Lord of the Rings universe expands.
If you’re a paying subscriber, you’ll also get further recommendations from the Wingman team and our weekly round-up of must-watch trailers. If you want to share the love and don’t know what to buy your film-loving pal for Christmas, why not gift them a subscription to The Movie Wingman? You can buy it at the very last minute, it’s something they’ll appreciate all year long, and you can use it to coordinate your cinema trips/streaming sessions together.
Enjoy today’s edition, and if you want to show your appreciation, drop us a like or a comment below. We’ll be back on Tuesday, with the penultimate chunk of our Top 20 films of the year list (that’s 10-6, if you’re keeping track) and lots more besides…
Matt (and Jordan and Matthew)
Reviews
Kraven the Hunter
15, in cinemas now
⭐⭐☆☆☆
He’s got the strength of a bull elephant. The eye of the tiger. And he leaps onto moving vehicles like the monkeys at Woburn Safari Park. He is Sergei Kravinoff - aka Kraven the Hunter - and you do not want to get on his naughty list…
Watching him whittle down his (human) targets can be fun, though. Take the opener, where J.C. Chandor’s (Margin Call, All is Lost) Marvel adaptation sets out its R-rated stall with a brutal prison break. Or later on, when our antihero (played by a buff, gruff Aaron Taylor-Johnson) springs forest booby traps that would make an Ewok blush on a gaggle of goons. Best of all is a Hunter-versus-car chase that tears through the streets of London and makes a splash in the Thames.
Shame, then, that much of the time between the big action beats, Kraven misses the mark. After that stabby intro, we bog down in a spun-out flashback sequence that reveals how young Sergei (Levi Miller) ended up a barefoot killer of crims. Dragged on a Ghanaian safari by his beastly mobster dad Nikolai (Russell Crowe), Sergei almost becomes a lion’s lunch; his imminent demise is averted by a drop of feline blood and a handy potion courtesy of local priestess’ granddaughter Calypso (later played by Ariana DeBose in a largely thankless role).
As Sergei develops heightened senses, so the audience may catch a whiff of miscalculation: why establish Crowe as such an imposing nemesis only to shift focus to other, less entertaining villains? There’s hypnotist assassin The Foreigner (Christopher Abbott), whose counting-to-three schtick gets tired quickly; and Alessandro Nivola’s Aleksei, who wanders in and out with his backpack permanently on like a creepy Dora the Explorer, before fully mutating into an underwhelming take on a vintage Marvel heavy.
But no superpower can hold a candle to Crowe’s ability to slice the ham wickedly thick. Gifted all the best-worst lines (“I am teaching my sons the joy of stalking”), Nikolai may well be the crown jewel in Crowe’s roster of comic-book dads (Man of Steel’s Jor-El, Thor: Love and Thunder’s Zeus). Meanwhile, Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven at a lower volume than his printed-page counterpart (a Lee/Ditko creation who debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man issue 15, 1964), but still cuts a charismatic and impressively nimble dash. If nothing else, Kraven the Hunter could serve as a convincing Bond audition.
But the ‘best’ news is that, as the latest - and possibly last - entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (ie the strand with no Spidey), Chandor’s film is no worse than most of the Venoms and a lot more watchable than Morbius or Madame Web. Although perhaps the most charitable thing to say about the VFX is that you can be very sure no actual animals were harmed during production… (Matthew Leyland)
In short: Watching Taylor-Johnson and Crowe circle each other is fun, but this comic-book actioner brings little that’s fresh to the table.
Stay for the credits? The final scenes (optimistically) set up a sequel, but there’s nada after the names roll.
Continuity-police report: Unless he has some insta-healing power we missed, Kraven’s wounds vanish remarkably fast after a tussle with a big cat…
Queer
18, in cinemas now
⭐⭐⭐☆☆
For their second collaboration this year after Challengers, director Luca Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes reteam to adapt William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novella. Sex and power dynamics are once again explored, but there’s less plot momentum and trippier visuals this time around. Set in 50s Mexico City, William Lee (Daniel Craig, further distancing himself from 007), spends his days drinking, taking hard drugs and hooking up with younger guys. The arrival of Eugene Allerton (the pointily handsome Drew Starkey) ignites a new romantic obsession. There’s something extremely compelling about Lee, thanks in large part to Craig’s full-blooded performance, but it’s hard to fully invest in the relationship. The Mexico City-set portions, in particular, boast beautiful production design created entirely in Cinecittà Studios, but have an unreal quality, like you’re peering into a diorama or doll’s house (an idea played with during one hallucinatory sequence). As with some anachronistic music choices - including a swaggeringly cool use of Nirvana’s ‘Come as You Are’ - it’s aesthetically impressive, but holds you at arm’s length. (Matt Maytum)
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
12A, in cinemas now
⭐⭐☆☆☆
An origin story for LOTR stronghold Helm’s Deep, The War of the Rohirrim extends the Tolkien-verse of the Peter Jackson movies in anime form, but sadly doesn’t take advantage of the imaginative potential of the medium. Set 183 years before Fellowship, it’s the story of the kingdom of Rohan - led by Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) and his daughter Héra (Gaia Wise) - defending itself from an attack by a rival faction. Save for a few neat visuals, the animation style feels dated, and the plot is small-fry compared to the movies or The Rings of Power. It’s all fine, but fine is a waste of the potential this had: LOTR co-writer Philippa Boyens produces and anime stalwart Kenji Kamiyama directs, but the end result is less than the sum of its parts, and often just a bit dull. Last-minute namedrops threaten more spin-offs, but this offshoot would feel more at home on the small screen. (Matt Maytum)
Carry-On
N/A, on Netflix now
⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Director Jaume Collet-Serra is the modern-day master of the preposterous, yet thoroughly enjoyable, high-concept action-thriller. Typically these star Liam Neeson in a variety of mundane settings (on a train, in a plane etc); here Taron Egerton steps in for Big Liam as regular Joe TSA agent Ethan Kopek. A shameless riff on Die Hard, it’s set in LAX - at Christmas, no less - where everyman Ethan becomes the target of a nameless ‘facilitator’ (Jason Bateman) who wants Ethan to avert his eyes when a carry-on bag packed with Novichok passes under his scanner. Suitably twisty and slickly shot - its biggest flex is a needlessly elaborate oner capturing a brawl in the front seats of a careening car - Carry-On is pure microwave-popcorn fare that doesn’t hold up to a millisecond of scrutiny. For one, how does Bateman’s unnamed villain manage to smuggle lethal poisons, plastic guns and more through security? But Egerton is a serviceable John McClane stand-in and Bateman is cast compellingly against type as the malicious mastermind who’s always one step ahead. Perfect post-work fugue-state viewing. (Jordan Farley)
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