For the comic-book-illiterate, Kraven The Hunter, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1964, is a Spider-Man antagonist and co-founder of the supervillain gang the Sinister Six (rumour has it they were known as the Foreboding Five before Vulture joined). J.C. Chandor’s mostly flat and ludicrous origin story reimagines him as a vigilante Doctor Dolittle, an apex predator who can not only commune with animals but also takes on some of their abilities, such as increased smell, vision and strength. Surprisingly, this is perhaps the part of Kraven The Hunter that makes the most sense.

The backstory is leadenly sketched. Taken on safari by his Russian crime-boss father Nikolai (Russell Crowe) to get over the death of his mother (as you do), Sergei Kravinoff (Levi Miller) is ravaged by a lion but revived by a potion administered by Calypso Ezili, the granddaughter of a voodoo high priestess, which gives...