The Crow (2024) Movie | Bill Skarsgård | FKA Twigs | Danny Huston | Review And Facts

e e e hello guys welcome to my channel in this video we are going to review the Crow movie so join us as we dive into the world of movie review exploring the depths of The Crow movie get ready to embark on an Epic Journey filled with interesting facts as we explore movie review and fact so whether you're a season with movie review or just curious about the Crow movie review so then hit that subscribe button and join our community don't forget to turn on notifications so you never miss out on our latest Adventures now let's dive in the crow is a 2024 American Gothic superhero film directed by rert Sanders from a screenplay by Zach Balin and William Schneider 78 a reboot of the crow film series it is the fifth film in the franchise and is the second film after the 1994 film to adapt the 1989 comic book series by James Oar of the film stars Bill Skarsgard as Eric the crow a man who is resurrected to avenge the deaths of himself and his girlfriend played by FKA twigs the film entered development in December 2008 with Steven Norrington stating that he would write and direct a reinvention of the crow it entered a complicated production process with various directors screenwriters and cast members attached at various points filmmakers Norrington Juan Carlos fresnadillo F Javier Gutierrez and Corin Hardy were initially signed to direct while Bradley Cooper Luke Evans Jack Huston and Jason Mamoa were all cast as Eric during various points in development Skarsgard was announced as Eric in April 2022 along with Sanders as director filming began in July occurring in Prague and penzing near Munich the crow had its World premiere in New York City on August 20th 2024 and was released in France on August 21st 2024 and in the United States by Lionsgate on August 23rd 2024 the film received negative reviews from critics and has gross 9.3 million worldwide on a $50 million Budget on December 14th 2008 Steven Norrington announced a variety that he planned to write and direct a reinvention of the crow 1989 Norrington distinguished between the 1994 adaptation and his take whereas Alex PR's original was gloriously Gothic and stylized the new movie will be realistic hard-edged and mysterious almost documentary style 16 Ryan Kavanagh then announced on November 23rd 2009 that his company relativity media was in negotiations with Edward R Pressman for both the film's rights and financing 17 in July 2010 Australian musician Nick Cave was brought in to IIs the script 18 in October 2010 reports emerged that Mark Walberg was offered the lead role 19 Norrington later stepped out of the project and on April 7th 2011 it was announced that Juan Carlos fresnadillo had been chosen to direct the film which has since been regarded as a remake Tucker Tuli of Relativity was chosen to serve as executive producer while Jose ianis John C and Jesus D laa were to serve as co-producers me meanwhile Bradley Cooper was in talks to play the lead 20f Javier Gutierrez was also in consideration to replace Norrington 21 it was reported on April 20th 2011 that the project was stalled due to a legal battle between relativities Ryan kavanov and the Weinstein Company who still retain the worldwide distribution rights to the series 2223 in late June 2011 relativity announced their plans to continue in mid lawsuit and had tapped Alex SE 24 in mid August 2011 it was announced that Cooper had dropped out due to scheduling difficulties and Walberg was again up for the par with additional rumors of Channing toam or Ryan Gosling possibly taking the role as well as James macavoy 250 26027 in October 2011 it was reported that fresnadillo had Departed the project as well 28 it was confirmed in January 2012 that Gutierrez had signed on to direct the remake with Edward R prman Ryan Kavanaugh and Jeff most on producing duties 29 gz's intention for the film was to do a direct page for paig adaptation of the comic book 30 Jesse wigo was attached as screenwriter while Dan faroh would join Bob and Harvey Weinstein and Tuli as executive producers 31 in June 2012 prman assured fans that the original 1994 Crow film holds a special place in my heart the current film is a reinvention of James oar's graphic novel for the 21st century we're thrilled to have teamed with director Javier Gutierrez and screenwriter Jesse wigo on this story which remains true to the core of Eric draven's plight for Revenge 32 on the news of future remakes however obar stated I don't have great expectations I think the reality is no matter who you get to star in it or if you get Ridley Scott to direct it and spend $200 million you're still not going to top what Brandon Lee and Alex pryes did in that first $10 million Dollar Movie 33 screenwriter Cliff Dorfman was enlisted for a page one rewrite which ultimately got the project greenlet 34 the director accorded production designer Bo Welch effects artist Rick Baker musician adus Ross and makeup designer Bill Corso for the film 3D 534 on April 19th 2013 it was announced that Tom Heston was in talks to play Eric 36 that same month there were reports that Heston would not be doing the film but Alexander Skarsgard was in talks for the part a week later however Skarsgard stated that he was not attached to the film 37 on May 4th 2013 deadline reported that Luke Evans had been cast as Draven 38 Evans reaffirmed to superhero hype that the film would be as faithful as possible to the original 39 on July 3rd 2013 the Crow's Creator James obar was named as the creative consultant of the film 40 in an October 2015 interview obar would discuss what had changed his mind about the reboot and efforts to make the reboot a more faithful adaptation of the comic book while remaining respectful to the original film 41 on November 21st 2013 scho no had reports that Norman rtis was up for the role of a character named James and that Kristen Stewart had at one time been considered for the part of Shelly 42 location scouting took place in New Orleans Louisiana and later in the United Kingdom 34 in July 2014 uus signed on to the film Rings 2017 which would force him to later drop out of directing the film 43 in November 2014 obar announced he was co-writing the screenplay with Cliff Dorfman 44 in December 2014 the studio hired Corin Hardy to direct the film 45 Evans told den of geek in an interview that he might not do the film and it was later revealed that Evans has dropped out of the film due to other projects 464 7 48 on February 9th 2015 lar told blaster in an interview that he was interested in Sam witor for the role 49 in October 2014 comic Creator James obar said we're not remaking the movie We're readapting the book my metaphor is that there is a Bella Lugosi Dracula 1931 and there's a Francis Ford kapola Dracula 1992 they use the same material but you still got two entirely different films this one's going to be closer to Taxi Driver 1976 or a John wo film and I think there's room for both of them part of the appeal of The Crow comics after all is that they can tell very different stories obar said that the new film will stick closer to his book than the original adaptation 50 as of October 24th 2014 the film was set to start production in the spring of 2015 51 on February 25th 2015 it was reported that Jack hustin was in talks to star in the film 52 on March 14th 2015 Oar confirmed to dread Central at the Lexington comic and toy convention that hustin had been cast as Draven in the reboot and at a q Anda during the convention he further confirmed that Jessica Brown finle had been cast as Shelley Webster 5A 354 on May 20th 2015 deadline reported that Andrea risborough was in talks to co-star as the female version of top dollar 55 on June 15th 2015 variety reported two stories Forest Whitacre was in negotiations for a role and hustin had dropped out due to scheduling conflicts but relativity Studios were looking at Nicholas Holt and Jack O Connell for the role of Draven 5m 657 on July 31st 2015 The Hollywood Reporter reported that production on the reboot stalled because of Relativity media's bankruptcy 58 Oar told comicbook.com in an interview that the film would still happen 59 the reported that filming on the reboot was going to start in March 2016 with Hardy on board as director 661 on June 15th 2016 deadline reported that Hardy returned to the reboot 62 on August 10th 2016 Jason Mamoa posted a photo of himself with Hardy on his Instagram account 63 and 64 on September 6th 2016 hirap reported that Mamoa was cast and filming was set to begin in January 2017 65 on November 17th 2016 the film was retitled to the crow reborn with The Hollywood Reporter reporting that Highland film group and electric Shadow have acquired the rights to finance produce and distribute the film from relativity but may lose both mimoa and Hardy 66 in September 2017 it was announced that Sony Pictures would distribute the film 67 in March 2018 the film was slated for a release date of October 11th 2019 68 on May 31st 2018 it was announced that both director Hardy and star Mamoa had exited the project 69 production was expected to begin later that year in Budapest 70 on social media Hardy revealed that he had creative differences with the rights holder Samuel hadida of Davis films and that leaving the film was the hardest decision of all 71 in November 2019 prya said he had tried to stop a reboot from happening out of respect for Lee adding W it's not just a movie that can be remade it's one man Legacy and it should be treated with that level of respect in January 2020 the film was revived and development resumed 73 in March 2022 prman reaffirmed that the film was still on track 74 the following month rert Sanders and Zach Balin were announced as director and writer while Edward R prman and Malcolm gray co-produced 75 on April 1st 2022 it was announced by The Hollywood Reporter that Bill Skarsgard who brother Alexander was formerly in talks for the lead role with star as Eric Draven 437 in the same month it was reported that FKA twigs would Star as Shelly Webster while Victor hadeda Molly Hassel and John jensx joined as producers 12 Sanders had focused on the themes of grief and morality when creating the film wanting to create a dark romance he described the film's tone as being similar to a song by The Cure and wrote the script to honor the passing of Lee describing scarg guard's version as being a successor twigs and Skarsgard did not perform together prior to filming but attending a dinner on set while filming in Prague as Sanders was confident in their acting abilities principal photography commenced on July 13 2022 in Prague Czech Republic 77 paperwork filed from the film's production falsely identified the project as a six episode television series 17778 filming was previously set to commence in June 2022 shooting in Prague and Munich for to ensure the safety and comfort of all the cast and crew in light of the 1994 film shooting incident as well as the then recent similar incident on Rust Sanders met with a special effects department and armor in Prague the first day and told them that no firing weapons would be used on his set using airsoft guns instead even though it cost them a bit of the very limited visual effects budgets money to add a muzzle flash and smoke with Sanders feeling that the movies visual effects were very much in camera and shot at a location with set extension 79 by August 26th 2022 Danny Huston whose nephew Jack was previously cast as Draven in March 2015 was cast as Vincent R Wy 353 it was also revealed that Isabella y joined the cast as Zade 11 on September 16th 2022 the film wrapped production 77070 880 scars guard surprised Sanders with his d conditions which involved a pound of steak [ __ ] a Daily scarg Guard arrived directly from shooting boy kills World 2024 and worked four straight months with no complaints and very few free days even doing a scene where he was covered in Black syrup despite it being the last night since filming had wrapped Skarsgard had felt a certain distance from the film due to the ending when asked about this during his Esquire magazine interview he mentioned how the ending made the path for a sequel easier stating I personally preferred something more definitive the crow was theatrically released in France on August 21st 2024 and in the United States on August 23rd 2024 by Lionsgate films 85 it was originally scheduled for June 7th 2024 86 Lionsgate acquired the film's distribution rights for $10 million and spent $15 million on print and advertising 88788 film Nation entertainment sold the film's international distribution rights to various buyers at the can's film festival in May 2022 as of August 27th 2024 the crow has grossed $4.6 million in the United States and Canada and $4.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $9.3 million 56 in the United States and Canada the crow was released along side blink twice in the Forge and was initially projected to grow $69 mil ion from 2752 theaters in its opening weekend aiding 793 after making $2 million on its first day including an estimated $650,000 from Thursday night previews projections were lowered to $4.50 5 million the film went on to debut to $4.6 million finishing eth at the box office 88 or 94 deadline called the opening disastrous noting that the original film opened to 11.7 million in 1994 $35.5 million in 2024 adjusted for inflation the crow received negative reviews from critics 96 to 97 on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes 20% of 98 critics reviews are positive with an average rating of 4 210 the website's consensus reads dreary and poorly pasted this reimagining of the crow doesn't have enough personality or pulse to Merit the resurrection 98 Metacritic which uses a weighted average assigned the film a score of 30 out of 100 based on 29 critics indicating generally unfavorable reviews 99 audiences pulled by cinemascore gave the film an average grade of B on an A plus to FS scale while those at post track gave it a 47% overall positive score with an average of 1.5 out of five stars with 36% saying they would definitely recommend it 95 a negative review by Benjamin Lee for the guardian wrote it was no real surprise that a tortured update of 1994's curs goth Revenge Thriller the crow would be a misfire it's been in development since 2008 with multiple directors and actors attached ever since but it's genuinely startling just how utterly wretched the finished product is and how unfit it is for a wide release 100 Allison Wilmore a vulture was very critical of the overall production and commented upon the acting as follows scars guard and twigs have a total absence of chemistry and while she's adequate in what's still basically a dead wife role he's shockingly inert for someone with a career build almost entirely on characters at the intersection of creepy and hottie 101 another very negative review came from Empire who rated the movie 1 finishing by calling it a turkey in Pros clothing 102 other very negative reviews were published in screen daily 103 in Mashable 104 in a more mixed review CG magazine wrote at the end of the night the crow 2024 isn't the worst movie of the year and if you're a fan of the comic series or are a fan of Bill Skarsgard you'll likely walk out of the crow with a big grin on your face for everyone else however the latest adaptation of the dark anti-hero kind of just feels like another R-rated take on the oversaturated superhero genre that plagues modern movie theaters everywhere 105 a mixed review and the ringer concluded and while the crow reboot like any film ought to be viewed with an open mind it's hard not to feel like the franchise should have ended with the original film send off do you think angsty teens will build little shrines to us Shelly FKA twigs asks her fellow troubled lover On The Run Eric Bill scars guard which is an appropriate question verging on two meta to ask during a long developed sparsely attended remake of The Crow that's exactly what angsty teens did to the first adaptation of James oar's goth comic book from 199 4 not least because of the real life tragedy at its Center the onset death of star Brandon Lee days before shooting concluded made his performance doubly haunting anchoring a movie that in some ways probably shouldn't have existed somehow we got to see it anyway and ghoulish as it is the crow makes clear why Lee's family signed off on that unveiling he's an unforgettable presence physically beguiling scary sad funny he earned those shrines from the angsty teens whether goth kids in love with the makeup theater kidss digging the performative strangeness or aggro kids digging the righteous violence we also helped to assure that future versions of the crow would seem like they shouldn't exist either for the exact opposite reason without Lee and without the 1994 films immersive Urban Decay visuals any retelling would feel disposable in fact even with one of those elements intact returning production designer Alex McDow created a different but similarly Vivid world for the crow s of angels it felt like a dicey proposition the 30 years later 2024 version of The Crow isn't precisely an exception as untrustworthy as fan bases can be it wouldn't be close-minded to dismiss this remake out of hand the same was true of director rubert Sanders last foray into unassailable youth culture Classics his 2017 remake of Ghost in the Shell the man must be a glutton for a particular brand of Internet era punishment yet like his shell roommate the Sanders Crow makes something oddly compelling out of a bad idea the basic story Remains the Same Eric and shelle's Youthful passion is cut horrifically short by murder though no sexual violence component this time around and in initially befuddled Eric returns from the dead imbued with physical invincibility and guided vaguely by a crow eventually seeking revenge against his and especially Shell's Killers but while the 1994 film jumped right into Eric's year later return filling in the rest bya flashbacks in part and necessity given the circumstances of Lee's death the new one spends a fair amount of time with a couple before tragedy strikes no longer a rock star and his activist girlfriend Eric and Shelly now meet as haunted past guests in a strict rehab facility that often resembles a stylize Aram like Asylum if this sounds a bit like the Joker and Harley Quinn wait until you get a load of Eric's space task that's not just an opportunistic knockoff Lee's performance had Joker VI two a kind of Otherworldly drwy that isn't world away from the clown Prince of Crime between his tattoos and leather jacket scarg guard may look like he could be playing the young CW Series version of Jared Leo's Joker from Suicide Squad but he and twigs unlocked a doomed Romanticism that the earlier versions of Eric and Shelly didn't have time for he's not as magnetic as Lee but his wounded der pagus is complimented by Twigs who plays shell as an artsy type who hasn't yet located her Muse or genre for a Revenge Thriller the movie takes its time with their relationship they're not exactly going out for long and thoughtful dinners their first real date is a rehab breakout but their connection pulls the movie along the crow also involves an overtly Supernatural villain after years of Crim Lords and corrupt cops who only looked Andor acted like demons and often evinced a surprisingly Keen knowledge of prore for supposed humans surprisingly the movie doesn't use this to build toward a bigger more formidable Showdown with a powered up Eric the bad guy for all of his creepy power is still just Danny Huston in a suit for much of the movie scarg guard is endearingly Clumsy with his body pushing through bullet breaks and slashes with more determination than skill in a particularly amot touch the 2024 Crow more overtly explains that the repeated mangling of Eric's body like those visited upon Wolverine hurt and heal in equal measure even his craziest Rampage late in the movie features blood soak body horror and slasher style kills why did it take so long to give the crow a sword Sanders sets that sequence at an elegant Opera House a neat inversion of the usual Crow environment of industrial Gothic wreckage it's one of only a few instances where the movie bothers to replace the defining Crow aesthetic with anything else in terms of memorable production design the rest of the time it Ops out there's something intensely jarring about a crow movie that cuts to generic dut establish ing shots of a real City skyline Sanders dots the movie with more coste effective dreamlike touches the pink uniforms the rehab inmates Must ALL wear for example or the inet train station world where Eric Gets advice from a mysterious purgatorial stranger Sammy Billa without ever achieving the hallucinatory liftoff of the first film it's an unnecessarily timid decision likely egged on by the sense that the filmmakers could create something more grounded in human emotion rather than The Uncanny or the night marage indeed the crow 2024 is as indicated by that teen Ang line more self-conscious about its youth culture bonf fides there's not a single sympathetic human character who registers as a genuine fully grown adult even if the soundtrack largely jumps back to pre grunge rather than trying to find the Contemporary equivalent maybe a movie where everyone we're supposed to like is a tortured teenager at heart no matter the actual age of its Stars should hit a bit sus coming from a 50 something Direction called rert maybe though that's the only way to approach this material after so much time self-conscious sincere ready to bleed in 1994 Alex proy is directed an adaptation of James oar's 1989 comic the crow following the story of Eric Draven a young man resurrected after his and his fiance Shell's murders to claim Vengeance it was embraced by '90s goth goth adjacent and even General audiences to a degree Brandon Le's Resurrected Draven outfit and makeup became instantly iconic and a true pop culture figure Le onset death due to a blank malfunction put the title in the annals of film history luckily the movie was damned good earning a reputation on its own outside the tragic accident the film was followed by four sequels all using the idea in different ways to various degrees of success until now the 2005 Wicked prayer was the naor and a one-season TV show adapting the original story after the failure of wicked prayer the powers that be decided the best route would be rebooting the franchise after many many many years of production hell with countless upand Comer actors and directors attached and ultimately detached the crow finally crash landed into theaters this weekend written by William Schneider and directed by rert Sanders the Bill Skarsgard LED film trips out of the nest so awfully it shows perhaps the reason why the crow had such an awful trip from idea to screen a second time p is 1994 take was perfectly realized and still relevant thus any attempt to do it a second time is a moot point yes this new version of The Crow is technically not a remake of the 1994 film but another adaptation of the James Oar comic a reviewer generally should look at any new take or entry to a property on its own merits or demerits if need be but here's the thing the Alex Pro's film is so ubiquitous to the title and to pop culture it can't help but be compared everyone sitting down to watch 2024 will be reminded and comparing to 1994 themselves especially since that one is great and this one is terrible a comparison based on what Rupert Sanders's take LAX is apt and a way to expound on why this version fails to take flight three main facets are lacking in the film preventing the rise from multiple production deaths to achieve its own Vengeance on the naysayers things I miss in the 2024 is the crow it can't rain all the time this quote is from the original film but is of tan amount importance in making it work the visual component of the rain so M Noir Detroit immediately gave the world of 1994 an iconic look the visual acut sets a tone and feel for the film even if the rest didn't work PR's followup of dark city one of my favorite movies is similarly built on look to also create a compelling Story the film is built on Vibe for Sanders's version he opted for Bland much akin to how he shot ghosts in the shell and Snow White on brand I guess this complaint isn't really about the rain soaked world but the Bland shot choice and lighting that could be any film this story begs for an interesting visual style I'm not saying it has to match the original not at all I don't want a carbon copy but give something on the quote so much of the first half now and lay is bright daylight and sunshine it does rain sometimes but it seems like the it just rained that day on the set chance rather than than the production design same with night versus day it's weird some scenes start on a bright day and continue on a rainy night like it just happened in a blink akin to plan 9's [ __ ] continuity almost as if the shoot went on so long that everything changed but no one cared just get it done and we can home it looks cheap even the bad sequels tried but why not the big budget theatrical go the limbo area does bring a little life in the undead world but that's about it two characters especially characters with chemistry Brandon Lee and Sophia Sheena have a palpable chemistry their love feels real and lived in we like them and feel for them when it all falls out even if we only spend a little bit of time with them before the tragedy Bill Skarsgard and FKA twigs barely feel like they know one another's names despite the first 50 minutes devoted to their love story they give nothing to one another to work with there is such an antiem istry that I'm waiting to hear stories of oh they did not like to be in the same room so we had to work around it to come out not saying that's true just the vibe my apologies to twigs but I'm putting most of it on her her performance is like she just woke up and is still very high from the night before scars guard is much more himself when against anyone else as for the other characters both good and evil cardboard I couldn't tell you their names let alone a single thing about them the pair's friends just show up and act like we are supposed to know them cue a sudden shift of a whole bunch of folks we've never met having a Lakeside getaway even Danny Huston's villain Rogue has nothing top dollar is replaced with a let me check my memory vampire businessman y it doesn't work as this adds nothing to the story and is barely a thing having only read the comic once in 25 years ago I don't recall if detective Albright and Sarah are in the source but they are needed to make the story work giving a larger world and grounding it these characters give more life to Eric and Shelly contextualizing who they are they live through Sarah and Albright in 2024 the people we are meant to care about are as much ciphers as their friends three a cohesive story man this is a mess I hope you've seen the 1994 film coming into this one it'll fill in the details needed to create a basic understanding of what is happening on the why Eric is back and how this works end of things on a wider stance The Narrative flow is awful it's disjointed and underdeveloped there aren't setups in the first half to be paid off in the back end in character or action things happen just because characters know things they shouldn't they show up in places they shouldn't know about the extended setup for Eric and Shell's meeting and falling in love is overly long and unnecessary undermining the power of their relationship and rendering the whole mood how no one said cut the whole rehab thing and just have them together at the start it'll save us a whole set and everything covered can be done better further muddling the timeline Eric and Shell's relationship seems to be a matter of days a week or two at most but the villain side of things makes it clear this takes place over what seems to be a very short period it's hard to sell deep true love if we're thinking these two just met and have spent most of it high as [ __ ] all the story Shaner means no o there is little to stick an emotional hook into I will say one positive the single action scene a John Wick like attack at an opera house is pretty well done when taken out of context it's also a strangely empty Lobby for a soldout Opera no latecomer staff other people around this sort of thing bothers me and it must be deaf audience in the auditorium not to hear everything happening feed away even with an opera on stage this scene also highlights an issue while Draven does occasionally take down people involved in his and shelle's deaths a oneeyed driver a big Russian dude Atia Swinton clue most of the baddies he takes down are hired security goons sorry guys you had nothing to do with him just contracted employees but enjoy a word in your eye the new adaptation of the crow is an unnecessary retelling of a story told so incredibly well 30 years ago it hasn't faded from cultural memory from a bland look to chemistry less characters to a simply poorly told story The Crow is an empty pile of dirty feathers a lot of this no doubt has much to do with the real life tragedy that permeates every frame of the film something I've never really been able to keep far from my mind while watching it the tragic events that led to Star Brandon Lee's death on set at the age of 28 are a part of the film's DNA For Better or Worse given the film's themes of life and death that film being Lee's final screen presence on film takes the movie to Heights that may not have been possible otherwise some have said that the tragedy turned a good film into a great great film simply by Design and unfortunate happenstance there have been sequels to the crow and a television series and now we have the emergence of a long and development reboot finally hitting the big screen given the fact that the crow is based on Source material created by James Oar in 1989 I have fallen in the league that a reboot isn't off limits because the 1994 film isn't the beginning of the story The Source material is Open Season to be adapted but should that be the case it needed to be done with time and care because the 1994 original in many ways has even surpassed The Source material for some fans it has become a Mythic and sacred piece of work so anyone that would take on this task would need to put in a lot of work to make their take Stand Out unfortunately this new film directed by Robert Sanders from a screenplay by Zach Balin and William Schneider fails on nearly every level it's hard to imagine what the goal was here because as its own entity it doesn't offer up anything to stand out positively and as a direct comparison to the first movie it doesn't come close to measuring up it's all style and zero substance something that the original Crow had in Spades despite the best efforts of Bill Skarsgard and FKA twigs they're completely innocent here the film never finds much of a reason to exist and by the time the movie reaches a third act that is high on visceral action violence Gore It's Too Late to even save it as some kind of guilty pleasure the new story offers up up the basic beats of what fans already know although there are attempts to give a bit more character details to scars guards Eric Draven as we meet him Eric is in rehab and it's clear that he has a very dark past something the audience discovers mostly through Eric's goth aesthetic Eric also seems deeply enthralled with mortality something that is again briefly hinted at during a flashback scene to his childhood when he attempts to save a fatally wounded white stallion credit to Skarsgard much of what drives Eric is conveyed through a performance that is far better than the material as he has to do a lot of heavy lifting for what is missing from Balin and Schneider's script Eric's World shifts when he meets Shelly FKA twigs after she checks into the rehab and happens to be battling her own demons in one of the few things the movie gets right the connection between the pair is palpable thanks in large part to the Natural Chemistry Between scars guard and twigs there is an energy between the duo and their romance defies feelings that are easy to Des tribe as it feels much deeper eventually the two lovers have a chance to escape the rehab facility and start a new life where their demons feel far behind them or so it seems while things are fying for a short while shell is still running from her past and her demons aren't just in her head she's trying to escape a demonic crime Lord named Vincent Rogue Danny Huston and he and his minions desperately want to find and get rid of her because she has evidence that could expose them it's no secret that they do find the PA shell is killed and Eric is an innocent bystander in all of the Carnage except Eric doesn't die he's trapped in some kind of purgatory where he can actually have a chance to save Shelly from Damnation he can bring her back to life if he kills Rogue in his gang but his love for Shell must remain pure throughout and if not he will have to take her place starting with the good and there isn't a lot is that the motivations are a bit more romantic in this outing and that drives Eric more than it did in the 1994 origal film Le Eric Draven was driven by Vengeance as he ran down the foes who killed his fiance and nearly killed him with his axe coming off as more deserved retribution there was no real hope of bringing his Shelly Webster back and his goal was more about avenging her life and the life they could have had the new version's Love Story takes more of a center stage and it makes for a potentially interesting direction to blur the lines of romance and the supernatural but the screenplay isn't strong enough to balance the Two Worlds there's several occasions when the film falls back on its visual pallet which is satisfactory from cinematographer Steve Annie but the story needed more than that 1994's the crow was a visually stunning piece of work but it also had a beating heart this one doesn't the big misstep is with the film's villain despite Danny Huston being reliably good as always it feels as if they wanted to give scars guards Eric Draven a more Supernatural driven foe rather than the devilishly good but human top dollar played by Michael wincott in the first film Vincent sold his soul to the devil so that he could have he could have eternal life and this is maintained by Vincent sacrificing innocent souls for Satan himself the problem with all of this is that even with the added layer of demonic motivation Huston's villain as written is pretty weak and never feels like a viable threat they also attempt to give him someone to care about as well in this case a concert pianist that he takes interest in because it seems like the plot needs him too Huston does the best he can with the Upper Crust Vincent but scars guard does so much heavy lifting him that there isn't much room for hust to do the same when speaking on scars guard's performance as a whole he does what he can with the part and you can tell he's dedicated but he's stifled by the film trying desperately to be cool and make him look cool it's not so much that his crow makeup and clothing attire is bad it's just that it's too much he's rendered with tattoos that make him look like he's channeling Jared Leo's J ER and a lot of it screams trying too hard none of this is scarg guard's fault because he has proven to be a fine actor no matter the material if anything it's frustrating that the film around him isn't better once Eric fully takes on the crow Persona the film does offer up a pleasantly violent third act that is suitably bloody and Relentless taking place at an opera house it feels as if most of Sanders's visual prowess and directorial skills were saved for this sequence for anyone bored up to at this point it will likely wake them up but it comes too little too late funly enough the movie leaves things open for a sequel but given the critical reception so far in projected subar box office it's highly unlikely a followup will come to fruition as it stands this version of The Crow proves that not all IP needs to be resurrected especially when it's clear that resting in the Peace of the original is where this should have stayed if the motivations to bring it back were so poor James oar's original the crow comic miniseries was as most Comics fans know by now about love loss and bereavement so it's probably a bad sign if 30 minutes into the latest cinematic adaptation you're rooting for the two main characters to hurry up and die already in the readaptation by director rert Sanders Snow White and the Huntsman the most significant loss felt is that of 111 minutes potentially better spent somewhere else the 1994 film of a crow is the ultimate in '90s golf movies so much so that it even came with a tragedy of its own when Star Brandon Lee was accidentally shot and killed on set by a mistakenly loaded gun it was his defining role and remains so by default but the movie's Eternal Night aesthetic and its Grim dark soundtrack by established hitmakers the Cure hot new star's 9-in Nails Stone Temple Pilots and student radio cult ax medicine Roland's band hit Jen acts right in the nihilistic feels it's been a merchandise mover ever since yet unable to follow follow up with another hit movie in theory the crow is an extremely malleable franchise its heroes are one and done walking corpses back for a final Revenge Quest and literally anybody can be a crow this worked in the comics but not on screen as the semi-sequel City of Angels and wicked prayer have never gotten much love perhaps that's why the new one which has been in the works for almost two decades now with various creative teams and stars attached attempts to go back to the original character Eric Draven albeit by being far less faithful to the source material to be fair a more direct remake of the comic and movie was already tried with a mark toco's starring TV series The Crow Stairway to Heaven you really really don't want to watch it however much you might like de casos seriously rather than dropping us into a black draped industrial coffin of a world the new Crow begins in broad daylight on a farm as little boy Eric learns about losing loved ones when he finds a white horse caught in barbed wire trying to free it cuts his hands which apparently led to a downward spiral that has landed him in rehab or perhaps it's just a dream what Els in rehab adult Eric Bill Skarsgard meets Shelly FKA twigs who is there after being caught with drugs while fleeing potential assassins they stare at each other she likes his poetry and drawings they break out have sex do more drugs and get drunk as every addiction counselor would have told them not to do an inevitable finger wagging from the insufferable Doctor Drew Pinsky will actually be deserved this time in the original comics and film The Tragedy of Eric and Shelly is simply that they're random victims of degenerate criminals portrayed here as muscular strung out junky convicts On The Run they seem like the kind of people whom anyone in their right mind might shoot at if they were caught trespassing once we learn more about Shell's past that becomes even more true as she's deeply involved with a fashtion Immortal soul Empire named Rogue Danny Huston who makes a point of corrupting Innocents and sending them to hell in his place a lot of exposition seems to have been left on The Cutting Room floor that might better explain their dynamic or why Rogue is obsessed with classical music to the point of being an overly conspicuous Patron much like the recent Time Bandits TV series offered its protagonist the ability to undo the cruestv the crow now offers Eric a chance to reverse his and Shell's eventual murders which is about as fundamental a betrayal of the source material As It Gets In A Purgatory that looks like infinite empty railroad Bridges Eric is Guided by an older man who may or may not be a previous Crow this feels more like a lip from the early issues of spawn which was at least partly riffing on the crow to begin with Sanders seems to have borrowed As Much from the John Wick aesthetic as his predecessor Alex proya did from Tim Burton's Batman but there's less of a point to it our rated Batman was is pushing beyond the limits of what had been done R-rated John Wick is just John Wick to Sanders credit the action moments are the highlights of the movie with Eric initially more or less incompetent at fighting but just very good at not dying as his wounds cause him maximum pain despite their ability to heal like a video game character he can sustain enough damage to be sent back to purgatory and start again by the time he's fully leveled up for an opera house Massacre the gore is as excessive and hilariously cathartic as in any good slasher Sanders also knows when to deliver a needle drop though the soundtrack is hardly as memorable this go around Joy Division inia and Gary Newman bring the Retro Vibes with bands like traitors and Lander bringing the new as for the actual crow that brought back Eric's Soul it barely interacts with him just flying vaguely in the direction he's supposed to go there's no camaraderie there which feels particularly odd for a guy who's first murdered loved one was apparently a horse then again the crow looks to have been added in post so it's hard to blame Skarsgard for not noticing it there have been so many swings on this project with everyone from Mark Wahlberg to Tom hon and Jason Mamoa attached that it's easy to suspect a too many cooks approach ruined what could have been a fruitful franchise restarter in comics the crow flesh and blood which featured a resurrected indigenous Federal Officer who was pregnant at the time of her death made for one of many Stellar sequels a script based on that and written for Amber mid Thunder could have been a license to print money instead we get Eric Draven in name only Skarsgard does his best with this poorly fleshed out junky poet but everything else betrays him and it's not like we don't know the answer to this but why in a universe where it's proven that Satan and hell are actually real does nobody ever mention Jesus regardless of one's Faith or lack thereof it only makes sense that when a mythological demon turns out to verifiably exist one might consider calling on his traditional Foe for help Sanders Ghost in the Shell remake was underrated unfairly [ __ ] as whitewashing when its story was pointedly a critique of San but that's not the case here this Crow will be overrated if anyone remembers it at all after all these years of talk it might have been bound to disappoint but even in a world where Brandon Lee's original never existed it still would have done so good movies always have integrity but not good movies can have integrity two the crow about a man who is murdered along with the love of his life and comes back from the dead to Aventure is in Vivid example of this principle it has a lot of elements that don't work including a symbolism Laden recurring flashback to a childhood trauma that landed the hero Eric Draven in a mental institution and you sort of just have to accept that the central love story is powerful because the film needs it to be and because the actors are likable Zack Bal and William Schneider's script takes a while setting up the horrifying Central event that drives the rest of the story and the movie doesn't get to the point where the hero becomes the crow a self-painted faintly joker esque Angel of Death until the final stretch and there are a lot of other problems issues that I'll get to in due course but it has a lowkey confidence about its identity and methods including an entire metaphysical system supporting the plot that's unexpectedly persuasive by the end this film is not as reality show contestants like to say here to make friends but to be true to itself and it walks a righteous path in that regard all the way to its ending which is true to the spirit of John Keats and Edgar Allen Poe as well as the source material Janes oar's graphic novel the violence is staggeringly brutal even by Revenge Thriller standards flamboyantly consciously excessive in the manner of an art house/ Grindhouse Thriller like drive or only God forgives as if the movie is going all out to shock an audience that fancies itself unshockable and the decision to spend so much time showing us big eyed Sad Sack Eric Draven played by Bill Skarsgard prior to his Supernatural transformation and to develop Eric's lover Shelly musician FKA twigs a woman on the fringes of the goth underworld who's running from a dark secret as a person with her own identity and backstory pays off fairly deep into the story even though it can be a little frustrating early on post Shell's death the movie takes a turn that without revealing anything specific is so rock solidly capital r romantic in an Elegy Written In A Country churchard kind of way that in an age where any form of sincerity is reflexively dismissed as cringe the movie deserves Applause for even going there and more Applause for following the decision to its dramatically inevitable conclusion and giving audiences the ending that feels right even if it's not the one that'll send viewers home with smiles on their faces it's true that there's no Universe in which it can be called a great movie or even an inherently commercial one Twigs is likable but gives a rather thin performance and scars guard doesn't Fair much better despite their apparently complete investment in the Love Story it might have helped if the characters didn't seem stoned even when they aren't doing drugs director Rupert Sanders Snow White and the Huntsman the live action Ghost in the Shell relies too much on stereotypical lovers frolicking Montage material that seems to want to be charged with secondary meaning Eric kisses Shelly through a sheer white curtain that suggests a burial shroud and after her death there's a Titanic Y image of her sinking into the MC of a harbor despite Eric's outstretched hand these really could have been more productively swapped out for more you know actual scenes where the two behave like you know people all that plus the extreme violence and the not upbeat ending probably explain why the crow is being dumped by its Studio lion skate without any press screenings and seemingly little advertising or marketing but this still feels like a mistake because for all its disappointments and missteps including a lack of imaginative compositions and some muddy or milky nighttime photography the movie's got something of specialness an aura or maybe just an obvious purity of intent that ought to inoculate it against charges that it's just a cash grab remake nobody who's in showby solely to make money would commit to a movie like this version of The Crow which has a 19th century wearing black and kneeling by the tombstone definition of true love and it has gone to the trouble of developing a detailed cosmology to put character motivations in context and let the movie build to a statement that goes beyond bad guys kill Hero's girl hero comes back to kill bad guys which is pretty much what Alex PR's dark city did when he first adapted James oar's Source comic 30 years ago the villain in this one Ro presumably named for the great director Nicholas Rogue and played by go to bad guy Danny Huston is not just a garden VAR human criminal but a vile and Powerful creature who by his own description has been around a long time and has the ability to corrupt Mortals unlike previous screen tellings of the legends of the crow this one is Thoroughly steeped in the Supernatural beyond the Trope of resurrecting a dead protagonist as in horror films about Devils demons and stolen Souls this one portrays evil as a power source or force that can be carried and weaponized transforming and despoiling others this bring brings the story closer to the Fable of orus who tries to save his wife Urus from Hades although this Crow spends most of its metaphysical development scenes in a purgatorial in between space PR's version was probably always going to end up an example of a film in which style was substance the characterizations were flat iconic and the look was modeled on then contemporary music videos album covers and Comics art and it had to embrace that aesthetic much harder after its star Brandon Lee was killed by a prop gun before he was done filming his scenes the production team used silhouetted body doubles and then cruded compositing to Cobble together something releasable the result was a death haunted film in more ways than one hopefully enough time has passed to be able to say that the result though better than it had any right to be got extra love and affection because audiences knew so much about the trauma that birthed it for what it's worth I gave PR's the crow a rave review when it came out and wore out the sound track on cassette this new version isn't as focused propulsive and fleet-footed as the 94 film it's a mournful wallow with a tinge of northern European horror films and fables it's a neon Noir Big Bad City movie with buckets of rain pouring down the rip buff scars guard doesn't have Lee's dancer like Grace and doesn't try to approximate it if Lee's Eric Draven was a trickster imp scar guards is more of a brooding clay Golem conjured to destroy the wicked and that's okay it's a different approach and in the end it not only works the film is moving almost in spite of itself this Crow seems to understand itself most strongly when it's showing us how Eric retooling himself into a killing machine in the name of redemption and justice has chosen to become what he beheld and empty himself of the love that transformed him for the better when Shelly was alive the onscreen effect is reminiscent of an Edgar Allen poine years of Love have been forgot in the hatred of a every scene especially in the second half seems to be taking its creative orders from some secret coded frequency that only the filmmakers can hear and that no other mainstream movie this year has access to even when the film wasn't quite working in any conventional sense there were moments that raised the hair on the back of my neck there's a scene in the movie where Eric and Shelly are walking across a bridge and Shelly not really jokingly talks about jumping and they Envision a double jump ending in their deaths and Shel imagines that teenagers would make shrines to them I think that in time teenagers will make their own shrines to this movie in their own ways it's the kind of movie where if you saw it when you were 14 you'd see it 10 or 20 more times and be inspired to check out books from the library maybe memorize some poetry the crow had its World premiere in New York City on August 20th 2024 and was released in France on August 21st 2024 and in the United States by lion gate on August 23rd 2024 the film received negative reviews from critics and has grossed $9.3 million worldwide on a $50 million Budget on December 14th 2008 Steven Norrington announced a variety that he planned to write and direct a reinvention of the crow 1989 Norrington distinguished between the 1994 adaptation and his take whereas Alex PR's original was gloriously Gothic and stylized the new movie will be realistic hard-edged and mysterious almost documentary style 16 Ryan Kavanagh then announced on November 23rd 2009 that his company relativity media was in negotiations with Edward R Pressman for both the film's rights and financing 17 in July 2010 Australian musician Nick Cave was brought in to revise the script 18 in October 2010 reports emerged that Mark Walberg was offered the lead role 19 Norrington later stepped out of the project and on April 7th 2011 it was announced that Yuan Carlos fresnadillo had been chosen to direct the film which has since been regarded as a remake Tucker Tuli of Relativity was chosen to serve as executive producer while Jose ianz John Kat and Jesus D laa were to serve as co-producers meanwhile Bradley Cooper was in talks to play the lead 20f Javier gueras was also in consideration to replace Norrington 21 it was reported on April 20th 2011 that the project was stalled due to a legal battle between relativities Ryan Kavanaugh and the Weinstein Company who still retained the worldwide distribution rights to the series 20223 in late June 2011 relativity announced their plans to continue in mid lawsuit and had tapped Alex seat 24 and mid August 2011 it was announced that Cooper had dropped out due to scheduling difficulties and wallberg was again up for the part with additional rumors of Chan toam or Ryan Gosling possibly taking the role as well as James macavoy 250 26027 in October 2011 it was reported that fresnadillo had Departed the project as well 28 it was confirmed in January 2012 that gueras had signed on to direct the remake with Edward AR prestman Ryan Kavanagh and Jeff most on producing duties 29 gz's intention for the film was to do a direct page for page adaptation of the comic book 30 Jesse wigo was attached as screenwriter while Dan pharoh would join Bob and Harvey Weinstein and Tuli as executive producers 31 in June 2012 prman assured fans that the original 1994 Crow film holds a special place in my heart the current film is a reinvention of James oar's graphic novel for the 21st century we're thrilled to have teamed with director Javier gueras and screenwriter Jesse wigo on this story which remains true to the core of Eric draven's plight for Revenge 32 on the news of future remake however bbar stated I don't have great expectations I think the reality is no matter who you get to star in it or if you get Ridley Scott to direct it and spend $200 million you're still not going to top what Brandon Lee and Alex pryes did in that first $10 million Movie 33 screenwriter Cliff Dorfman was enlisted for a page one rewrite which ultimately got the project greenlet 34 the director recorded production designer Bo Welch affects artist Rick Baker musician adus Ross and makeup designer Bill Corso for the film 3d5 34 on April 19th 2013 it was announced that Tom Heston was in talks to play Eric 36 that same month there were reports that Heston would not be doing the film but that Alexander Skarsgard was in talks for the part a week later however scars guard stated that he was not attached to the film 37 on May 4th 2013 deadline reported that Luke Evans had been cast as Draven 38 Evans reaffirmed to superhero hype that the film would be as faithful as possible to the original 39 on July 3rd 2013 the Crow's Creator James obar was named as the creative consultant of the film 40 in an October 2015 interview obar would discuss what had changed his mind about the reboot and efforts to make the reboot a more faithful adaptation of the comic book while remaining respectful to the original film 41 on November 21st 2013 scho no had reports that Norman ritis was up for the role of a character named James and that Kristen Stewart had at one time been considered for the part of Shelly 42 locations scotting took place in New Orleans Louisiana and later in the United Kingdom 34 in July 2014 gutiz signed on to the film Rings 2017 which would force him to later drop out of directing the film 43 in November 2014 obar announced he was co-writing the screenplay with Cliff Dorfman 44 in December 2014 the studio hired Corin Hardy to direct the film 45 Evans told denim geek in an interview that he might not do the film and it was later revealed that Evans has dropped out of the film due to other projects 464 748 on February 9th 2015 lar told blaster in an interview that he was interested in Sam Whitworth for the role 49 in October 2014 comic Creator James Oar said we're not remaking the movie We're readapting the book my metaphor is that there is a Bella Lugosi Dracula 1931 and there's a Francis Ford Capa Dracula 1992 they use the same material but you still got two entirely different films this one's going to be closer to Taxi Driver 1976 or a John Wu film and I think there's room for both of them part of the appeal of The Crow comics after all is that they can tell very different stories auar said that the new film will stick closer to his book than the original adaptation 50 as of October 24th 2014 the film was set to start production in the spring of 2015 51 on February 25th 2015 it was reported that Jack hustin was in talks to star in the film 52 on March 14th 2015 obar confirmed to dread Central at the Lexington comic and toy convention that hustin had been cast as Draven in the reboot and at a Q and A during the convention he further confirmed that Jessica Brown finl had been cast as Shelly Webster 5 a354 on May 20th 2015 deadline reported that Andrea risborough was in talks to co-star as the female version of top dollar 55 on June 15 2015 variety reported two stories forest whitre was in negotiations for a role in Huston had dropped out due to scheduling conflicts but relativity Studios were looking at Nicholas Holt and Jack Connell for the role of Draven 5m 657 on July 31st 2015 The Hollywood Reporter reported that production on the reboot stalled because of Relativity media's bankruptcy 58 Oar told comicbook.com in an interview that the film would still happen 59 the reported that filming on the reboot was going to start in March 2016 with Hardy on board as director 661 on June 15th 2016 deadline reported that Hardy return to the reboot 62 on August 10th 2016 Jason Mamoa posted a photo of himself with Hardy on his Instagram account 63 and 64 on September 6 2016 Kirra reported that Mamoa was cast and filming was set to begin in January 2017 65 on November 17 2016 the film was retitled to the crow reborn with The Hollywood Reporter reporting that Highland film group and electric Shadow have acquired the rights to finance produce and distribute the film from relativity but may lose both mimoa and Hardy 66 in September 2017 it was announced that Sony Pictures would distribute the film 67 in March 2018 the film was slated for a release date of October 11th 2019 68 on May 31st 2018 it was announced that both director Hardy and star Mamoa had exited the project 69 production was expected to begin later that year in Budapest 70 on social media media Hardy revealed that he had creative differences with the rights holder Samuel hadida of Davis films and that leaving the film was the hardest decision of all 71 in November 2019 prya said he had tried to stop a reboot from happening out of respect for Lee adding W it's not just a movie that can be remade it's one man's Legacy and it should be treated with that level of respect in January 2020 the film was revived and development resumed 73 in March 2022 prman reaffirmed that the film was still on track 74 the following month rert Sanders and Zack balen were announced as director and writer while Edward R Pressman and Malcolm gray co-produced 75 on April 1st 2022 it was announced by The Hollywood Reporter that Bill Skarsgard whose brother Alexander was formerly in talks for the lead role would Star as Eric Draven 437 in the same month it was reported that FKA TG would Star as Shelley Webster while Victor hadeda Molly Hassel and John jensx joined as producers 12 Sanders had focused on the themes of grief and morality when creating the film wanting to create a dark romance he described the film's tone as being similar to a song by The Cure and wrote the script to honor the passing of Lee describing scars guard's version as being a successor twigs and Skarsgard did not perform together prior to filming but attending a dinner on set while filming in PR Sanders was confident in their acting abilities principal photography commenced on July 13th 2022 in Prague cheze Republic 77 paperwork filed from the film's production falsely identified the project as a six episode television series 17778 filming was previously set to commence in June 2022 shooting in Prague and Munich for to ensure the safety and comfort of all the cast and crew in light of a 1994 film shooting incident as well as the then recent similar incident on Rust Sanders met with a special effects department and armor in Prague the first day and told them that no firing weapons would be used on his set using airsoft guns instead even though it cost them a bit of the very limited visual effects budgets money to add a muzzle flash and smoke with Sanders feeling that the movie's visual effects were very much in camera and shot at a location was set extension 79 by August 26th 2022 Danny Huston whose neug Jack was previously cast as Draven in March 2015 was cast as Vincent r w the 353 it was also revealed that Isabella o y joined the cast as Zade 11 on September 16th 2022 the film WRA production 77070 880 scars guard surprised Sanders with his diet conditions which involved a pound of steak [ __ ] a daily Skarsgard arrived directly from shooting boy kills World 2024 and worked four straight months with with no complaints and very few free days even doing a scene where he was covered in Black syrup despite it being the last night since filming had wrapped Skarsgard had felt a certain distance from the film due to the ending when asked about this during his Esquire magazine interview he mentioned how the ending made the path for a sequel easier stating I personally preferred something more definitive the crow was theatrically released in France on August 21st 2024 and in the United States on August 23rd 2024 by Lionsgate films 885 it was originally scheduled for June 7th 2024 86 Lionsgate acquired the film's distribution rights for $10 million and spent $15 million on print and advertising 8788 film Nation entertainment sold the film's international distribution rights to various buyers at the can's film festival in May 2022 as of August 27th 2024 the crow has grown $4.6 million in the United States and Canada and $4.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $9.3 million 56 in the United States and Canada the crow was released alongside blink twice in the Forge and was initially projected to grow $69 million from 2752 theaters in its opening weekend aing 793 after making $2 million on its first day including an estimated $650,000 from Thursday night previews projections were lowered to $4.50 5 million the film went on to debut to $4.6 million finishing eth at the box office 88 or 94 deadline called the opening disastrous noting that the original film opened to $1.7 million in 1994 35.5 million in 2024 adjusted for inflation the crow received negative reviews from critics 96 to 97 on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes 20% of 98 critics reviews are positive with an average rating of 4 2/10 the website's consensus reads dreary and poorly paced this reimagining of the crow doesn't have enough personality or pulse to Merit the resurrection 98 Metacritic which uses a weighted average assigned the film a score of 30 out of 100 based on 29 critics indicating generally favorable reviews 99 audiences pulled by cinemascore gave the film an average grade of B on an a plusa f scale while those at post track gave it a 47% overall positive score with an average of 1.5 out of five stars with 36% saying they would definitely recommend it 95 a negative review by Benjamin Lee for the guardian wrote it was no real surprise that a tortured update of 1994's Cur goth Revenge Thriller the crow would be a fire it's been in development since 2008 with multiple directors and actors attached ever since but it's genuinely startling just how utterly wretched the finished product is and how unfit it is for a wide release 100 Allison Wilmore a vulture was very critical of the overall production and commented upon the acting as follows scars guard and twigs have a total absence of chemistry and while she's adequate in what still basically a dead wife role he's shockingly inert for someone with a career built almost entirely on characters at the intersection of creepy and hottie 1001 another very negative review came from Empire who rated the movie5 finishing by calling it a turkey in Crow's clothing 102 other very negative reviews were published in screen daily 103 in Mashable 104 in a more mixed review CG magazine wrote at the end of the night the crow 2024 isn't the worst movie of the year and if you're a fan of the comic series or are a fan of Bill Skarsgard you'll likely walk out of the crow with a big grin on your face for everyone else however the latest adaptation of the dark anti-hero kind of just feels like another R-rated take on the oversaturated superhero genre that plagues modern movie theaters everywhere 105 a mixed review and the ringer concluded and while the crow reboot like any film ought to be viewed with an open mind it's hard not to feel like the franchise should have ended with the original film send off do you think Ang teens will build little shrines to us Shelley FKA twigs asks her fellow troubled lover On The Run Eric Bill scars guard which is an appropriate question verging on two meta to ask during a long developed sparsely attended remake of The Crow that's exactly what angsty teens did to the first adaptation of James oar's goth comic book from 1994 not least because of the real life tragedy at its Center the onset death of star Brandon Lee days before shooting concluded made his per performance doubly haunting anchoring a movie that in some ways probably shouldn't have existed somehow we got to see it anyway and foolish as it is the crow makes clear why Lee's family signed off on that unveiling he's an unforgettable presence physically beguiling scary sad funny he earned those shrines from the angsty teens weather goth kids in love with the makeup theater kids digging the performative strangeness or aggro kids digging the righteous violence we also helped assure that future versions of the crow would seem like they shouldn't exist either for the exact opposite reason without Lee and without the 1994 films immersive Urban Decay visuals any retelling would feel disposable in fact even with one of those elements intact returning production designer Alex McDow created a different but similarly Vivid world for The Crow City of Angels it felt like a dicey proposition the 30 years later 2024 version of The Crow isn't precisely an exception as untrustworthy as as fan bases can be it wouldn't be close-minded to dismiss this remake out of hand the same was true of director Robert Sanders last for into unassailable youth culture Classics his 2017 remake of Ghost in the Shell the man must be a glutton for a particular brand of Internet era punishment yet like his shell remake the Sanders Crow makes something oddly compelling out of a bad idea the basic story Remains the Same Eric and shelle's Youthful passion is cut horrifically short by murder though no sexual violence component this time around and in initially befuddled Eric returns from the dead imbued with physical invincibility and guided vaguely by a crow eventually seeking revenge against his and especially Shell's Killers but while the 1994 film jumped right into Eric's year later return filling in the Rest by a flashbacks in part and necessity given the circumstances of Le's death the new one spends a fair amount of time with a couple before tragedy strikes no longer Rockstar and his activist girlfriend Eric and Shelly now meet as haunted past guests in a strict rehab facility that often resembles a stylize Aram like Asylum if this sounds a bit like the Joker and Harley Quinn wait until you get a load of Eric's face TS that's not just an opportunistic knockoff Le's performance had Joker Vibes too a kind of Otherworldly drollery that isn't world's away from the clown Prince of Crime between his tattoos and leather jacket Skarsgard may look like he could be playing the young CW Series version of Jared Leo's Joker from Suicide Squad but he and twigs unlocked a doomed Romanticism that the earlier versions of Eric and Shelly didn't have time for he's not as magnetic as Lee but his wounded der pness is complimented by Twigs who plays shell as an artsy type who hasn't yet located her Muse or genre for a Revenge Thriller the movie takes its time with their relationship they're not exactly going out for long and thoughtful dinners their first real date is a rehab breakout but their connection pulls the movie along the crow also involves an overtly Supernatural villain after years of Crim Lords and corrupt cops who only looked Andor acted like demons and often evinced a surprisingly Keen knowledge of crow for supposed humans surprisingly the movie doesn't use this to build toward a bigger more formidable Showdown with a powered up Eric the bad guy for all of his creepy power is still just Danny Huston in a suit for much of the movie Stars guard is endearingly Clumsy with his body pushing through bullets breaks and slashes with more determination than skill in a particularly aot touch the 2024 Crow more overtly explains that the repeated mangling of Eric's body like those visited upon Wolverine hurt and heal in equal measure even his craziest Rampage laid in the movie features blood soaked body horror and slasher style kills why did it take so long to give the crow a sword Sanders sets that sequence at an an opera house a neat inversion of the usual Crow environment of industrial Gothic wreckage it's one of only a few instances where the movie bothers to replace the defining Pro athetic with anything else in terms of memorable production design the rest of the time it opts out there's something intensely jarring about a crow movie that cuts to generic dayut establishing shots of a real City skyline Sanders dots the movie with more coste effective dreamlike touches the pink uniforms the rehab inmates Must ALL wear for example or the in between train station world where Eric Gets advice from a mysterious purgatorial stranger Sammy Billa without ever achieving the hallucinatory liftoff of the first film it's an unnecessarily timid decision likely egged on by the sense that the filmmakers could create something more grounded in human emotion rather than The Uncanny or the nightmarish indeed the crow 2024 is as indicated by that teen Ang line more self-conscious about its youth culture bonafides there's not a single sympathetic human character who registers as a genuine fully grown adult even if the soundtrack largely jumps back to pre-run rather than trying to find the Contemporary equivalent maybe a movie where everyone we're supposed to like is a tortured teenager at heart no matter the actual age of its Stars should hit a bit sus coming from a 50 something director called rert maybe though that's the only way to approach this material after so much time self-conscious sincere ready to bleed in 1994 Alex proy is directed an adaptation of James oar's 1989 comic the crow following the story of Eric Draven a young man resurrected after his and his fiance Shell's murders to claim Vengeance it was embraced by '90s goth goth adjacent and even General audiences to a degree Brandon Le resurrected Eric Draven outfit and makeup became instantly iconic and a true pop culture figure Le on set death due to a blank malfunction put the title in the annals of film history luckily the movie was damned good earning a reputation on its own outside the tragic accident the film was followed by four sequels all using the idea in different ways to various degrees of success until now the 2005 Wicked prayer was the ner and a one-season TV show adapting the original story after the failure of wicked prayer the powers that be decided the best route would be rebooting the franchise after many many many years of production hell with countless incomer actors and directors attached and ultimately detached the crow finally crash landed into theaters this weekend written by William Schneider and directed by rert Sanders the Bill Skarsgard LED film trips out of the nest so awfully it shows perhaps the reason why the crow had such an awful trip from idea to screen a second time P's 1994 take was perfectly realized and still relevant thus any attempt to do it a second time is a moot point yes this new version of The Crow is technically not a remake of the 1994 film but another adaptation of the James Oar comic a reviewer generally should look at any new take or entry to a property on its own merits or demerits if need be but here's the thing the Alex prya film is so ubiquitous to the title and to pop culture it can't help but be compared everyone sitting down to watch 2024 will be reminded and comparing to 1994 themselves especially since that one is great and this one is terrible a comparison based on what rert Sanders's take LAX is apt and a way to expound on why this version fails to take flight three main facets are lacking in the film preventing the rise from multiple production deaths to achieve its own Vengeance on the naysayers things I miss in the 2024 is the crow it can't rain all the time this quote is from the original film but is of tan amount importance in making it work the visual component of the rain soak Neo Noir Detroit immediately gave the world of 1994 an iconic look the visual acut sets a tone and feel for the film even if the rest didn't work PR's followup of dark city one of my favorite movies is similarly built on look to also create a compelling Story the film is built on Vibe for Sanders version he opted for Bland much akin to how he shot ghosts in the shell and Snow White on brand I guess this complaint isn't really about the rain soaked world but the Bland shot choice and lighting that could any film this story begs for an interesting visual style I'm not saying it has to match the original not at all I don't want a carbon copy but give something on the quote so much of the first half now and lay is bright daylight and sunshine it does rain sometimes but it seems like the it just rained that day on the set chance rather than the production design same with night versus day it's weird some scenes start on a bright day and continue on a rainy night like it just happened in a blink of to plan 9's [ __ ] continuity almost as if the shoot went on so long that everything changed but no one cared just get it done and we can home it looks cheap even the bad sequels tried but why not the big budget theatrical go the limbo area does bring a little life in the undead world but that's about it two characters especially characters with chemistry Brandon Lee and Sophia Sheena have a palpable chemistry their love feels real and in we like them and feel for them when it all falls out even if we only spend a little bit of time with them before the tragedy Bill scars guard and FKA twigs barely feel like they know one another's names despite the first 50 minutes devoted to their love story they give nothing to one another to work with there is such an anti-em istry that I'm waiting to hear stories of oh they did not like to be in the same room so we had to work around it to come out not saying that's true just the vibe my apologies to Twig but I'm putting most of it on her her performance is like she just woke up and is still very high from the night before Skarsgard is much more himself when against anyone else as for the other characters both good and evil cardboard I couldn't tell you their names let alone a single thing about them the pair's friends just show up and act like we are supposed to know them CU a sudden shift of a whole bunch of folks we've never met having a Lakeside getaway even Danny Huston's villain Rogue head has nothing top dollar is replaced with a let me check my memory vampire businessman yeah it doesn't work as this adds nothing to the story and is barely a thing having only read the comic once in 25 years ago I don't recall if detective Albright and Sarah are in the source but they are needed to make the story work giving a larger world and grounding it these characters give more life to Eric and Shelly contextualizing who they are they live through Sarah and Albright in 2024 the people we are meant to care about are as much ciphers as their friends three a cohesive story man this is a mess I hope you've seen the 1994 film coming into this one it'll fill in the details needed to create a basic understanding of what is happening on the why Eric is back and how this works end of things on a wider stance The Narrative flow is awful it's disjointed and underdeveloped there aren't setups in the first half to be paid off in the back end in character or action things happen just because characters know things they shouldn't they show up in places they shouldn't know about the extended setup for Eric and Shell's meeting and falling in love is overly long and unnecessary undermining the power of their relationship and rendering the whole moot how no one said cut the whole rehab thing and just have them together at the start it'll save us a whole set and everything covered can be done better further muddling the timeline Eric and Shell's relation relationship seems to be a matter of days a week or two at most but the villain side of things makes it clear this takes place over what seems to be a very short period it's hard to sell deep true love if we're thinking these two just met and have spent most of it high as [ __ ] all the story chicer means no oomph there is little to stick an emotional hook into I will say one positive the single action scene a John Wick like attack at an opera house is pretty well done when taken out of context it's also a strangely empty Lobby for a soldout Opera no latecomer staff other people around this sort of thing bothers me and a must be deaf audience in the auditorium not to hear everything happening feed away even with an opera on stage this scene also highlights an issue while Draven does occasionally take down people involved in his and Shell's deaths a oneeyed driver a big Russian dude a Tilla Swinton clue most of the baddies he takes down are hired security goons sorry guys you had nothing to do with him just contracted employees but enjoy a word in your eye the new adaptation of the crow is an unnecessary retelling of a story told so incredibly well 30 years ago it hasn't faded from cultural memory from a bland look to chemistry less characters to a simply poorly told story The Crow is an empty pile of dirty feathers a lot of this no doubt has much to do with the real life tragedy that permeates every frame of the film something I've never really been able to keep far from my mind while watching it the tragic events that led to Star Brandon Lee's death on set at the age of 28 are a part of the film's DNA For Better or Worse given the film's themes of life and death that film being Lee's final screen presence on film takes the movie to Heights that may not have been possible otherwise some have said that the tragedy turned a good film into a great film simply by Design and unfortunate happenstance there have been sequels to the crow and a television series and now we have the emergence of a long and development reboot finally hitting the big screen given the fact that the crow is based on Source material created by James Oar in 1989 I have fallen in the league that a reboot isn't off limits because the 1994 film isn't the beginning of the story The Source material is Open Season to be adapted but should that be the case it needed to be done with time and care because the 1994 original in many ways has even surpassed The Source material for some fans it has become a Mythic and sac piece of work so anyone that would take on this task would need to put in a lot of work to make their take Stand Out unfortunately this new film directed by rert Sanders from a screenplay by Zach Balin and William Schneider fails on nearly every level it's hard to imagine what the goal was here because as its own entity it doesn't offer up anything to stand out positively and has a direct comparison to the first movie it doesn't come close to measuring up it's all style and zero substance something that the original Crow had in Spades despite the best efforts of Bill Skarsgard and FKA twigs they're completely innocent here the film never finds much of a reason to exist and by the time the movie reaches a third act that is high on visceral action violence Gore It's Too Late to even save it as some kind of guilty pleasure the new story offers up the basic beats of what fans already know although there are attempts to give a bit more character details to scars guard's Eric Draven as we meet him Eric is in rehab and it's clear that he has a very dark past something the audience discovers mostly through Eric's goth aesthetic Eric also seems deeply impr praed with mortality something that is again briefly hinted at during a flashback scene to his childhood when he attempts to save a fatally wounded white stallion credit to scarg guard much of what drives Eric is conveyed through a performance that is far better than the material as he has to do a lot of heavy lifting for what is missing from Balin and Schneider's script A World shifts when he meets Shelly FKA twigs after she checks into the rehab and happens to be battling her own demons in one of the few things the movie gets right the connection between the pair is palpable thanks in large part to the Natural Chemistry Between scars guard and twigs there is an energy between the duo and their romance defies feelings that are easy to describe as it feels much deeper eventually the two lovers have a chance to escape the rehab facility and start a new life where their demons feel far behind them or so it seems while things are fineing for a short while Shelly is still running from her past and her demons aren't just in her head she's trying to escape a demonic crime Lord named Vincent Rogue Danny Huston and he and his minions desperately want to find and get rid of her because she has evidence that could expose them it's no secret that they do find the pair shell is killed and Eric is an innocent bystander in all of the Carnage except Eric doesn't die he's trapped in some kind of purgatory where he can actually have a chance to save Shelly from Damnation he can bring her back to life if he kills Rogue in his gang but his love for Shelly must remain pure throughout and if not he will have to take her place starting with the good and there isn't a lot is that the motivations are a bit more romantic in this outing and that drives Eric more than it did in the 1994 original film Le Eric Draven was driven by Vengeance as he ran down the foes who killed his fiance and nearly killed him with his axe coming off as more deserved retribution there was no real hope of bringing his Shelly Webster back and his goal was more about avenging her life and the life they could have had the new version's Love Story takes more of a center stage and it makes for a potentially interesting direction to blur the lines of romance and the supernatural but the screenplay isn't strong enough to balance the Two Worlds there are several occasions when the film falls back on its visual pallet which is satisfactory from cinematographer Steve anes but the story needed more than that 1994's the crow was a visually stunning piece of work but it also had a beating heart this one doesn't the bigness step is with the film's villain despite Danny Huston being reliably good as always it feels as if they wanted to give scars cards Eric Draven a more Supernatural driven foe rather than the devilishly good but human top dollar played by Michael wincott in the first film Vincent sold his soul to the devil so that he could have he could have eternal life and this is maintained by Vincent sacrificing innocent souls for Satan himself the problem with all of this is that even with the added layer of demonic motivation Huston's villain as written is pretty weak and never feels like a viable threat they also attempt to give him someone to care about as well in this case a concert penis that he takes interest in because it seems like the plot needs him too hustin does the best he can with the Upper Crust Vincent but scars guard does so much heavy lifting him that there isn't much room for hust to do the same when speaking on skarsgard's performance as a whole he does what he can with the part and you can tell he's dedicated but he's stifled by the film trying desperately to be cool and make him look cool it's not so much that his crow makeup and clothing attire is bad it's just that it's too much he's rendered with tattoos that make him look like he's channeling Jared Leo's Joker and a lot of it screams trying too hard none of this is scars guard's fault because he has proven to be a fine actor no matter the material if any anything it's frustrating that the film around him isn't better once Eric fully takes on the crow Persona the film does offer up a pleasantly violent third act that is suitably bloody and Relentless taking place at an opera house it feels as if most of Sanders's visual prowess and directorial skills were saved for this sequence for anyone bored up to this point it will likely wake them up but it comes too little too late funnily enough the movie leaves things open for a sequel but given the critical reception so far in projected subpar box office it's highly unlikely a follow-up will come to fruition as it stands this version of The Crow proves that not all IP needs to be resurrected especially when it's clear that resting in the Peace of the original is where this should have stayed if the motivations to bring it back were so poor James oar's original the crow comic miniseries was as most Comics fans know by now about love loss and bereavement so it's probably a bad sign if 30 minutes into the the latest cinematic adaptation you're rooting for the two main characters to hurry up and die already in the readaptation by director rert Sanders Snow White and the Huntsman the most significant loss felt is that of 111 minutes potentially better spent somewhere else the 1994 film of the crow is the ultimate in '90s golf movies so much so that it even came with a tragedy of its own when Star Brandon Lee was accidentally shot and killed on set by a mistakenly loaded gun it was his def in role and remains so by default but the movie's Eternal Night aesthetic and its Grim dark soundtrack by established hitmakers the Cure hot new star's 9in Nails Stone Temple Pilots and student radio cult axe medicine Roland's band hit gen ax right in the nihilistic feels it's been a merchandise mover ever since yet unable to follow up with another hit movie in theory the crow is an extremely malleable franchise its heroes are one and done walking corps's back for a final Revenge Quest Quest and literally anybody can be a crow this worked in the comics but not on screen as the semi-sequel City of Angels and wicked prayer have never gotten much love perhaps that's why the new one which has been in the works for almost two decades now with various creative teams and stars attached attempts to go back to the original character Eric Draven albeit by being far less faithful to the source material to be fair a more direct remake of the comic and movie was already tried with a marked CCO starring TV series The Crow Stairway to Heaven you really really don't want to watch it however much you might like the casos seriously rather than dropping us into a black draped industrial coffin of a world the new Crow begins in broad daylight on a farm as little boy Eric learns about losing loved ones when he finds a white horse caught in barbed wire trying to free it cuts his hands which apparently led to a downward spiral that has landed him in rehab or perhaps it's just a GRE what Els in rehab adult Eric Bill Skarsgard meets Shelly FKA twigs who is there after being caught with drugs while fleeing potential assassins they stare at each other she likes his poetry and drawings they break out have sex do more drugs and get drunk as every addiction counselor would have told them not to do an inevitable finger wagging from the insufferable Doctor Drew Pinsky will actually be deserved this time in the original comics and film The Tragedy of Eric and shell is simply that they're random victims of degenerate criminals portrayed here as muscular strung out junky convicts On The Run they seem like the kind of people whom anyone in their right mind might shoot at if they were caught trespassing once we learn more about Shell's past that becomes even more true as she's deeply involved with a fashion Immortal Soul vampire named Rogue Danny Huston who makes a point of corrupting Innocents and sending them to hell in his place a lot of exposition seems to have been left on The Cutting room floor that might better explain their dynamic or why Rogue is obsessed with classical music to the point of being an overly conspicuous Patron much like the recent Time Bandits TV series offered its protagonist the ability to undo the cruestv the crow now offers Eric a chance to reverse his and Shell's eventual murders which is about as fundamental a betrayal of the source material As It Gets In A Purgatory that looks like infinite empty railroad Bridges Eric is Guided by an older man who may or may not be a previous Crow this feels more like a lift from the early issues of spawn which was at least partly riffing on the crow to begin with Sanders seems to have borrowed As Much from the John Wick aesthetic as his predecessor Alex pryes did from Tim Burton's Batman but there's less of a point to it R-rated Batman was pushing beyond the limits of what had been done R-rated John Wick is just John Wick to Sanders's credit the action moments are the highlights of the movie with Eric initially more or less incompetent at fighting but just very good at not dying as his wounds cause him maximum pain despite their ability to heal like a video game character he can sustain enough damage to be sent back to purgatory and start again by the time he's fully leveled up for an opera house Massacre the gore is as excessive and hilariously cathartic as in any good slasher Sanders also knows when to deliver a needle drop though the soundtrack is hardly as memorable this go around Joy Division inap and Gary Newman bring the Retro Vib with bands like traitor and Lander bringing the new as for the actual crow that brought back Eric's Soul it barely interacts with him just flying vaguely in the direction he's supposed to go there's no camaraderie there which feels particularly odd for a guy whose first murdered loved one was apparently a horse then again the crow looks to have been added in post so it's hard to blame scarg guard for not noticing it there have been so many swings on this project with everyone from Mark wallberg to Tom Heston and Jason Mamoa attached that it's easy to suspect it too many cooks approach ruined what could have been a fruitful franchise restarter in comics the crow flesh and blood which featured a resurrected indigenous Federal Officer who was pregnant at the time of her death made for one of many Stellar sequels a script based on that and written for Amber mid Thunder could have been a license to print money instead we get Eric Draven in name only scarg guard does his best with this poorly fleshed out junky poet but everything else betrays him and it's not like we don't know the answer to this but why in a universe where it's proven that Satan and hell are actually real does nobody ever mention Jesus regardless of one's Faith or lack thereof it only makes sense that when a mythological demon turns out to verifiably exist one might consider calling on his traditional Foe for help Sanders's Ghost in the Shell remake was underrated unfair [ __ ] as whitewashing when its story was pointedly a critique of same but that's not the case here this Crow will be overrated if anyone remembers it at all after all these years of talk it might have been bound to disappoint but even in a world where Brandon Lee's original never existed it still would have done so good movies always have integrity but not good movies can have integrity to the crow about a man who is murdered along with the love of his life and comes back from the dead to Avent her is in Vivid example of this principle it has a lot of elements that don't work including a symbolism Laden recurring flashback to a childhood trauma that landed the hero Eric Draven in a mental institution and you sort of just have to accept that the central love story is powerful because the film needs it to be and because the actors are likable Zack balen and William Schneider's script takes a while setting up the horrifying Central event that drives the rest of the story and the movie doesn't get to the point where the hero becomes the crow a self-painted faintly joker esque Angel of Death until the final stretch and there are a lot of other problems issues that I'll get to in due course but it has a lowkey confidence about its identity and methods including an entire metaphysical system supporting the plot that's unexpectedly persuasive by the end this film is not as reality show contestants like to say here to make friends but to be true to itself and it walks a righteous path in that regard all the way to its ending which is true to the spirit of John Keats and Edgar Allen Poe as well as the source material James oar's graphic novel the violence is staggeringly brutal even by Revenge Thriller standards flamboyantly consciously excessive in the manner of an art house/ Grindhouse Thriller like drive or only God forgives as if the movie is going all out to shock an audience that fancies itself unshockable and the decision to spend so much time showing us big eyed Sad Sack Eric Draven played by Bill Stars guard prior to his Supernatural transformation and to develop Eric's lover Shelly musician FKA twigs a woman on the fringes of the goth underworld who's running from a dark secret as a person with her own identity and backstory pays off fairly deep into the story even though it can be a little frustrating early on post Shell's death the movie takes a turn that without revealing anything specific is so rock solidly capital r romantic in an Elegy Written In A Country churchard kind of way that in an age where any form of sincerity is reflexively dismissed as cringe the movie deserves Applause for even going there and more Applause for following the decision to its dramatically inevitable conclusion and giving audiences the ending that feels right even if it's not the one that'll send viewers home with smiles on their faces it's true that there's no Universe in which it can be called a great movie or even an inherently commercial one Twigs is likable but gives a rather thin performance and Skarsgard doesn't much better despite their apparently complete investment in the Love Story it might have helped if the characters didn't seem stoned even when they aren't doing drugs director Rupert Sanders Snow White and the Huntsman the liveaction Ghost in the Shell relies too much on stereotypical lovers frolicking Montage material that seems to want to be charged with secondary meaning Eric kisses Shelly through a sheer white curtain that suggests a burial shroud and after her death there's a Titanic Y image of her sinking into the MC of a harbor despite Eric's outstretched hand these really could have been more productively swapped out for more you know actual scenes where the two behave like you know people all that plus the extreme violence and the not upbeat ending probably explain why the crow is being dumped by its Studio lion gate without any press screenings and seemingly little advertising or marketing but this still feels like a mistake because for all its disappointments and missteps including a lack of imaginative compositions and some muddy or milky nighttime photography the movie's got something of specialness an aura or maybe just an obvious purity of intent that ought to inoculate it against charges that it's just a cash grab remake nobody who's in showby solely to make money would commit to a movie like this version of The Crow which has a 19th century wearing black and kneeling by the tombstone definition of true love and it has gone to the trouble of developing a detailed cosmology to put character motivations in context and let the movie build to a statement that goes Beyond bad guys kill Hero's girl hero comes back to kill bad guys which is pretty much what Alex pra's dark city did when he first adapted James oar's Source comic 30 years ago the villain in this one Rogue presumably named for the great director Nicholas Rogue and played by go to bad guy Danny Huston is not just a garden variety human criminal but a vile and Powerful creature who by his own description has been around a long time and has the ability to corrupt Mortals unlike previous screen tellings of the legends of the crow this one is Thoroughly steeped in the Supernatural beyond the Trope of resurrecting a dead protagonist as in horror films about Devils demons and stolen Souls this one portrays evil as a power source or force that can be carried and weaponized transforming and despoiling others this brings the story closer to the Fable of orus who tries to save his wife Urus from Hades although this Crow spends most of its metaphysical development scenes in a purgatorial in between space ca's version was probably always going to end up an example of a film in which style was substance the characterizations were flat eonic and the look was modeled on then contemporary music videos album covers and Comics art and it had to embrace that aesthetic much harder after its star Brandon Lee was killed by a prop gun before he was done filming his scenes the production team used silhouetted body doubles and then crude compositing to Cobble together something releasable the result was a death haunted film in more ways than one hopefully enough time has passed to be able to say that the result though better than it had any right to be got extra love and affection because audiences knew so much about the trauma that birthed it for what it's worth I gave PR's the crow a rave review when it came out and wore out the soundtrack on cassette this new version isn't as focused repulsive and fleet-footed as the 94 film it's a mournful wallow with a tinge of Northern European horror films and fables it's a neon Noir Big Bad City movie with buckets of rain pouring down the rip buff scars guard doesn't have Lee's dancer like Grace and doesn't try to approximate it if Lee's Eric Draven was a trickster imp scars guards is more of a brooding clay Golem conjured to destroy the wicked and that's okay it's a different approach and in the end it not only works the film is moving almost in spite of itself this Crow seems to understand itself most strongly when it's showing us how Eric retooling himself into a killing machine in the name of redemption and justice has chosen to become what he beheld and empty himself of the love that transformed him for the better when shell was alive the onscreen effect is reminiscent of an Edgar Allen poine years of Love have been forgot in the hatred of a minute every scene especially in the second half seems to be taking its creative orders from some secret coded frequency that only the filmmakers can hear and that no other mainstream movie this year has access to even when the film wasn't quite working in any conventional sense there were moments that raise the hair on the back of my neck there's a scene in the movie where Eric and Shelly are walking across a bridge and Shelly not really jokingly talks about jumping and they Envision a double jump ending in their deaths and Shelly imagines that teenagers would make shrines to them I think that in time teenagers will make their own shrines to this movie in their own ways it's the kind of movie where if you saw it when you were 14 you'd see it 10 or 20 more times and be inspired to check out books from the library maybe memorize some poetry