The Crow (2024)

​“The Crow” stars Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs, Isabella Wei, Danny Huston, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, and Jordan Bolger.  Released on August 23, 2024, the film has a resurrected musician avenging the deaths of himself and his fiancee.

The film is directed by Rupert Sanders, who also directed "Snow White and the Huntsman" and 2017's "Ghost in the Shell".  It is the reboot of "The Crow" film series, which is based on the 1989 limited comic book series by James O'Barr.  Whenever people survive a tragic death, I would assume they'd take this opportunity to reinvent themselves for the better.  But for that particular person, vengeance is the only path to improve their life.  Before Marvel took the cinematic world by storm, another hero evaluated the idea of superhero movies being the norm.  One who's more vengeful and violent than heroic and inspiring…and is named after a bird.  That may seem silly to some, but for fans of this supernatural superhero, "The Crow" is seen as one of the most badass and gothic heroes around.  However, most people recognized this character through the 1994 film adaptation, which was known for the tragic death of its lead, Brandon Lee, during filming.  Outside of that, it was highly regarded by critics and audiences as one of the best superhero films that aren't from Marvel and DC, mainly due to its style and Lee's iconic performance.  Thirty years after its release, Hollywood decided to resurrect the hero for another round of gothic, gory mayhem, with Bill Skarsgård filling in the titular character's shoes.  Does it provide the same love and effort as the 1994 film, or should it remain buried?  Let's find out.

The story centers on Eric (Skarsgård), a musician who meets and falls in love with a young woman named Shelly (Twigs) in prison.  As they're about to start a new life together, Eric is struck by the sins of Shelly's dark past, as a group of men comes in and murders them.  However, Eric winds himself up at the crossroads between the worlds of the living and the dead.  He's then given the chance to save Shelly from an undeserved fate by a spirit named Kronos (Bouajila), resulting in him sacrificing his life to gain supernatural abilities.  Now resurrected, Eric embarks on a ruthless rampage to find and kill those responsible for their deaths, leading him to confront the men's leader, a demonic crime lord named Vincent Roeg (Huston).

I might be among the few people who don't remember "The Crow" as much as others.  I've periodically heard what happened behind the scenes of the 1994 film.  However, I hadn't gotten the time to watch the movie nor its unrelated sequels in their entirety due to reasons…at least until recently.  I watched the 1994 adaptation the day before seeing the reboot, and I thought it was pretty darn good.  Was it straightforward?  Yes.  But it was also visually grim in the best way, benefiting from its gothic presentation and Brandon Lee's final yet show-stopping performance as Eric.  It turned the source material about an invulnerable superhero into a compelling and violent cinematic tale of revenge and true love.  However, it also makes me question whether the reboot would copy that similar level of success.  The filmmakers were able to finish making it without any trouble, so now it's just a matter of quality to revive this piece of IP.

The story in the 2024 adaptation offers the same premise as the 1994 film: a revived musician using his supernatural abilities to avenge his loved one's death.  However, it also provides several elements that distinguish it from the Brandon Lee version.  One of them is that this version emphasizes the supernatural elements, with the titular character battling a human with demonic abilities who's upsetting the balance between the living and the dead.  The other is that the film focuses more on the relationship between Eric and Shelly before Eric's transformation.  The 1994 adaptation went straight to the point of killing off the characters, initiating Eric's path of revenge, but the 2024 version took its time to allow audiences to embrace the protagonists' love before tragedy struck.  On the one hand, it offered a commendable approach in providing character-driven moments amid the bloodshed and gore, mainly in the first act.  On the other hand, it'll also likely annoy specific audiences eager for some action-packed thrills with its pacing and runtime.  It also doesn't help that the overall experience was surprisingly underwhelming and mediocre.

"The Crow" is basically another superhero movie in a sea of cinematic super-powered people dominating cinemas, which is all you need to know about this reinvention.  But, as long as it had enough merits to make it enjoyable or, at the very least, watchable, it shouldn't matter as much.  Throughout the movie, I only found a couple, which is better than nothing.  Sadly, even with those good intentions, they're not enough to prevent "The Crow" from being damned for its mediocrity and soullessness.  One of those merits is former art director turned filmmaker Rupert Sanders.  While his storytelling is far from remarkable, I give Sanders credit for his approach to creating grim and hard-edged atmospheres.  "The Crow" is known for having a gothic, hard-rock edge to its production designs, and the 2024 version is no different, although the latter took a more modern and realistic approach to its bleak aesthetics.  Some of those darkly violent sequences fit suitably with the source material's nature, but regarding everything else, Saunders heavily faltered in maintaining its compelling style, or lack thereof.

The film's action sequences also failed to deliver the excitement and thrills that audiences crave.  Despite featuring intense violence, most of these scenes had already been revealed in the trailers, resulting in a diminished impact in the final cut.  Thankfully, the Opera House sequence in the final act became my highlight of the film due to some of its kills and Sanders' approach to the editing and visuals.  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for some hard-R violence.  It's far from a groundbreaking cinematic achievement in the action genre, but in terms of adult-rated enjoyability, it gets a pass in my eyes.  Sadly, that's the only good part of the movie's violence, as everything else struggled to provide much else with its gothic style to elevate its dull tone.

The movie's screenplay didn't help much, relying heavily on its superhero and revenge tropes instead of elevating them with an engaging plot and world-building.  It's a shame because one of the writers was Zach Baylin, the Oscar-nominated writer behind "King Richard" and "Creed III", two outstanding movies with compelling stories.  With this, along with "Gran Turismo" and "Bob Marley", I'm starting to think that Baylin may have lost his narrative edge.  While Shelly has a more prominent role here than in the 1994 movie, the same can't be said for Eric, whose backstory failed to inject emotion into the protagonist's journey of grief and love.  It did show some of Eric's childhood occasionally, but it didn't strike the right chord in its emotional depth due to its minimal exploration of its themes.   

At least the cast was a bit tolerable with what they're given, even if they're not outstanding.  Bill Skarsgård provided a darker and more serious take on the revenge-seeking hero instead of copying the late Brandon Lee's iteration, and the result was…okay-ish.  While I can understand what Skarsgård was attempting to accomplish, his overall performance didn't quite scream "perfect casting" when it comes to the acting.  Singer/songwriter FKA Twigs made her second film debut following 2019's "Honey Boy", taking on the role of Shelly, and she was pretty subpar.  Not terrible, but not great either.  Danny Huston was also okay as Vincent Roeg, but not enough to boost the antagonist's run-of-the-mill nature.  

Overall, "The Crow" is a tedious and trope-heavy approach to the source material that's damned to hell by its excessive genericness.  The 2024 iteration deserves credit for maintaining the gothic nature of the comic and the 1994 film while adding a modern supernatural twist thanks to Sanders' vision.  However, despite its strong presentation, everything else falls short of being as diverting and compellingly stylized as it aspires to be.  Although the Opera House sequence was tolerable, it's not enough to save the film's soul from damnation due to its weak cast, subpar screenplay, forgettable action, runtime, and uninspired characters.  It not only reminds audiences how good the 1994 film is, but it also counts as another colossal misfire for Lionsgate this month following the "Borderlands" film.  Hopefully, its upcoming movies in September will help turn the studio's unfortunate streak around regarding their quality.  Until then, you're better off watching the 1994 version.  However, if you're actually interested in seeing the reboot, I recommend waiting until it's free to stream.

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