Movie Review: ‘The Crow’ | Moviephone
Bill Skarsgård in ‘The Crow’. Photo credit: Larry Horricks for Lionsgate. Copyright: © 2022 Yellow Flower LLC.
Opening in theaters on August 23 is ‘The Crow,’ directed by Rupert Sanders and starring Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs, Danny Huston, Josette Simon, Laura Byrne, Sami Boyazila and Jordan Bolger.
Related Article: ‘The Crow’: First Look of Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs in Remake
Initial thoughts
Here’s a little secret: this author was not a huge fan of the original 1994 movie ‘The Crow’. At the time, it appeared to be a case of style over substance, with drab, absurd and simplistic characters and a reactionary, nihilistic narrative. But the death of lead actor Brandon Lee — who was accidentally shot on set and later died of his injuries just days before shooting ended — casts an unmistakably embarrassing pale over the film that one has to be to not feel like a robot. Lee is great despite the movie surrounding him, but there’s also a ghostly aura around his presence on screen that permeates the entire movie and casts the otherwise ho-hum revenge thriller in a different light that has made it a cult classic.
Fair or not, if Lee’s mystique and legend are stripped away like the new remake of ‘The Crow’, there will be nothing but a ho-hum revenge thriller. Despite the best efforts of star Bill Skarsgård (who has cornered the movie monster market with his past portrayal of Pennywise the dancing clown in ‘It’ and his upcoming title turn in ‘Nosferatu’) and some inspired moments, in this long-running director Rupert The reboot in development from Sanders (‘Snow White and the Huntsman’) is dull, derivative and predictable, lacking energy in both its direction, its style and even its cast.
Story and direction
(L to R) Bill Skarsgård and FKA stalk in ‘The Crow’. Photo credit: Larry Horricks for Lionsgate.
The new ‘Crow’ written by Jack Belin and William Snyder keeps the bones of the story (based on the original 1989 graphic novel by James O’Barr) but adds a complex new set-up to take us through the main plot. Skarsgård’s Eric Draven is in a rehab facility in an obscure location (it appears to be in the relatively sunny countryside, while the unnamed town where the primary action takes place is perpetually dark and rainy) for rather obscure reasons (a flashback reveals that he saw) a precious animal die in infancy. goes) when he meets his colleague Shelley (FKA Twigs), a musician who allowed herself to be arrested for drug possession and sent to the facility to avoid a darker fate.
This is where ‘The Crow’ 2024 departs sharply from the 1994 film: where that movie’s villains were local Detroit thugs (yes, that movie was set in Detroit; the new one was supposed to be set in an American city but was shot in Germany and Prague) who ransacked an apartment. Wanted to take over the building where Eric and Shelly make their home, the antagonist here is Vincent Rogge (a bored Danny Huston), who is apparently immortal thanks to a deal he made with the devil years ago. . The pact involves using a demonic voice to whisper in people’s ears and force them to kill either themselves or someone close by, thus corrupting their souls and sending them to Hell. Shelley is used by Roag to murder someone in this fashion, thus putting her under the curse, but she has the whole thing on videotape (though it’s frustratingly unclear how that will bring her down).
It’s an unnecessarily complicated backstory that undermines Eric’s power to become a supernatural being himself. Which, of course, is what ends up happening. He and Shelly rather easily escape rehab just before Rogue’s goon squad (led by ‘Foundation’ star Laura Byrne, who deserves better) and enjoy an inexplicably lazy montage of hanging out with their friends at a lake or making sweet love and/or music. . Together (the timeline of this film is really confusing). But Roeg’s minions catch up with them again in Eric’s apartment, choking them both as they watch each other die.
Eric is sent to a gray CG afterlife that looks like the outside of an abandoned railyard, where ghostly mentor Kronos (Sami Boyazila) provides the necessary explanations to move the film forward. Eric is dead, but he can return to the land of the living and avenge Shelly’s death, or “make things right.” His physical body can heal from any wound, as long as his love for Shelly remains “pure”. And he can save his cursed soul too – but at a great price.
From there, it turns into a rather standard stalk-and-kill scene, albeit with plenty of CG blood (god, how we miss Karo Syrup sometimes) and some delightful deaths, particularly an extended one in an opera house. In battle that leaves Eric standing in a pile of severed limbs and heads (two of which he dispatches in unintentionally hilarious fashion). But while Eric faces such distinctive villains as Michael Wincott’s Top Dollar and his mole Mika (Bai Ling) in 1994, his enemies here are the usual burly, vaguely Eastern European-looking bunch of security men in nice suits, who seem to have an endless supply of diseases. There are The title bird, a sort of spirit guide in the first film, just tags along in this film.
There is an overall lack of suspense, energy or excitement in the proceedings, as everyone knows they are going through some predictable motion. The final confrontation between Eric and Rogue, after nearly everyone is killed, is as disappointingly flat as anything on display here. The goth aesthetic and alternative/metal soundtrack of the original film has been replaced with a generalized grey-brown murk and actually some beautiful songs from the likes of Foals, Enya and Traitors. But the overall style that made the first film a cultural touchstone of its time cannot be channeled in the same way.
the cast
(L to R) Bill Skarsgård and FKA stalk in ‘The Crow’. Photo credit: Larry Horricks for Lionsgate.
We enjoyed Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the dancing clown in the movie ‘It’, as well as his turns in films like ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ and ‘Barbarian’. And while it’s unfair to judge him against Brandon Lee, the latter is an integral part of the ‘Crow’ legacy and an influential presence in the original film. It is impossible to ignore the fact that while Lee was able to transcend the material, Skarsgård cannot. He gives it his best shot, but the emotional undercurrents just aren’t there, while his patchwork look of patchwork tattoos, cropped hair, and haphazard clothing does nothing to flesh out his character.
There is no chemistry between him and FKA Twigs, who gives a dead-eyed, monotone performance in a pivotal role. Some scenes between Twiggs and Skarsgård simply pass in silence, as if they have nothing more to say to each other, and Twiggs isn’t a strong enough actor to pull off Shelley. A subplot involving his relationship with his mother (Josette Simon) is largely unexplored and mostly forgotten, but based on that, we’re not sure Twigs can handle anything complicated anyway. In a film that already exists on a purely surface level, an actor needs all the tools they can muster and Twigs falls short.
Danny Huston mostly phones in his villainous Rog, a character whose own backstory and methods are confusing to say the least. Is he a vampire? A monster? Both? It’s not entirely clear. Laura Byrne remains an interesting presence (her work as the android Demarzel in ‘Foundation’ is one of that series’ strongest points) but is underutilized, while the rest of the cast doesn’t get enough to stand out here.
final thought
Bill Skarsgård in ‘The Crow’. Photo credit: Larry Horricks for Lionsgate.
It’s IP mining at best, an attempt to cash in on a brand name that still has some resonance 30 years later (a string of poor sequels kept it out of the public eye for a while), and sheer exploitation. But overall, it’s mediocre: ‘The Crow’ has too much of that bland feel that comes from watching straight-to-video thrillers. Brandon Lee no longer has the aura he brought to the original, and even the love story at the heart of the movie pales in comparison.
The original 1994 ‘The Crow’ remains a testament to a promising actor and career tragically lost too soon, as well as a snapshot of a defining moment in youth culture. Lacking either of these aspects, 2024’s ‘The Crow’ is a testament to what happens when story material is resurrected and rebooted without even thinking about whether it should be there in the first place.
‘The Crow’ gets 3 out of 10 stars.
“True love never dies.”
53
1 hour 51 minutes23rd August, 2024
Showtimes and tickets
Bill Skarsgård takes on the iconic role of The Crow in this modern reimagining of James O’Barr’s original graphic novel. Soulmate Eric (Skarsgård) and… read the plot
What is the plot of ‘Crow’?
Damaged souls Eric (Bill Skarsgård) and Shelly (FKA Twigs) fall deeply in love, only for Shelly’s dark past and demonic benefactor to catch up with her. After the couple is brutally murdered, Eric is sent back from the dead to “right things that were wrong” – even if it means costing him the most he wants.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Crow’?
- Bill Skarsgård as Eric
- FKA Twigs as Shelly
- Danny Huston as Vincent Rogue
- Josette Simon as Sophia
- Laura Byrne as Marian
- Sami Boyazila as Kronos
- Isabella Wee as Zadi
- Jordan Bolger as Chance
Bill Skarsgård in ‘The Crow’. Photo credit: Larry Horricks for Lionsgate.
