Kraven the Hunter (2024)

No Spider-Man shows up in this Spider-Man villain movie, and you feel the hole the entire time. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Sergei Kravinoff, son of Russell Crowe’s ruthless crime boss. After a run-in with a lion in Ghana, a girl named Calypso gives him a mystery serum, and he comes out with animal senses and a grudge. Years later he’s hunting criminals, and when mercenaries grab his half-brother Dmitri in London, he recruits Calypso again, now a grown-up lawyer played by Ariana DeBose. There’s also Rhino, and a hypnotist assassin called the Foreigner, and neither gets a real character. The script is crowded and predictable, the redubbed lines are easy to spot, and the effects get muddier as it goes. To be fair, it moves with confidence and a little style. Worldwide it took in $62.1 million, with a reported $110 to $130 million budget behind it. A 3.1 because a little style can’t outrun a clunky script. $6,481 says the next time a house cat stares you down, you wonder what serum it’s been on.

What works: It moves with real confidence and a bit of style, and it’s ludicrous in a way some viewers will find entertaining.

What doesn’t: The crowded script is painfully predictable, the villains are paper thin, and the visual effects get muddier as it goes.

Who it’s for: Comic book completists tracking every one of Sony’s Spider-Man spinoffs.