Kraven the Hunter has finally arrived in theaters, and the Marvel film's showing uses a number of memorable musical sequences that include a wide selection of songs. The Sony Spider-Man Universe movie slate may have come to an end with Kraven the hunterapparently no follow-up plans in place. This makes every aspect of the film more important, including the soundtrack, making it worth taking a look at what songs were featured and how they were used in the film, contributing to the soundtrack and feel of the violent new Marvel film.
While perhaps James Gunn is best known for needles in comic book movies, filmmaker JC Chandor included some memorable music-themed sequences in his latest film. Many of them follow Dmitri Smerdyakov, named after two characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov. At Marvel, Smerdyakov is the alias of the villainous Chameleon, whose transformative powers in the new film include the ability to exactly match the voices of famous singers. This allowed the film to use popular recorded songs and have Chameleon sing them.
When every song from the Kraven The Hunter soundtrack plays in the movie
The film features several presentations of the Chameleon
Three popular songs are used throughout the film, all sung by Chameleon. Smerdyakov is first seen singing Harry Styles' “Sign of the Times” when his father comes to visit him at his club. The song is the film's newest, having been released in 2018. With lyrics that include “Why are we always stuck and running from bullets“, the song fits superficially into the bloody violence expressed throughout the film. This sequence offers an excellent introduction to Smerdyakov's character and abilities, with transparently appropriate lyricism.
Another less obvious song appears as the scene continues. As Nikolai heads to his business meeting, Tony Bennett's song “They Can't Take That Away From Me” plays. This is a much older song, written by George and Ira Gershwin in 1937, with Tony Bennett first covering the song in 1993. Although less lyrically clear in its connections to history, the feel of the song and its words about holding on connect with Nikolai's goals in the film and the use of this song reinforces the importance of family in a strange and unusual way.
At the end of the film another musical cue is played when Chameleon sings in his club a whole year later singing David Bowie's “Changes” on his own birthday. With stories ahead for Kraven and the Chameleon to follow in a theory Kraven The Hunter sequel, with Dmitri following in his father's footsteps, it seems like things are certainly gearing up to change their dynamic. The 1971 track by Pretty Dory faces changes over time, and the meaning of this is easily transposed to the work that Kraven and Dmitri will do in the future.
Where to listen to the Kraven The Hunter soundtrack
Kraven The Hunter soundtrack has no official release
Sony Classical released the score for Kraven the Hunter on December 13, 2024, and can be heard on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon MusicDeezer, YouTube Music and Pandora. The soundtrack includes some pieces composed by Benjamin Wallfisch and others by Evgueni Galperine and Sascha Galperine, and it compares admirably with some of the best superhero soundtracks. With that said, no official soundtrack including existing songs has been officially released. Instead, each of these songs would have to be found separately on streaming services.
There are many user-submitted playlists that compile Kraven-theme songs on various streaming services, and any user can create playlists using the songs listed above. Although the dynamism expressed by the contrast between these three songs is impressive, once brought together they make for an interesting thematic picture. Seeing these pieces resonate and capture the unique feel of Sony's latest Marvel film Kraven the Hunter into a playlist is an interesting experience and one that can be easily curated on these services by enthusiastic listeners.