The Crow (2024) | Movie Review

[Music] hey guys welcome back to a brand new video here on the channel today it's going to be a very cheeky movie review for the crow starring Bill Skarsgard and FKA twigs I'm just going to call you Twigs so I'm currently in Southport for my best mate's wedding we managed to catch a screening of the film last night so right off the bat the reviews for this film have not been good you know it it debuted with very poor rating on Rotten Tomatoes which usually is something is not really you should gauge off you know it's one of those things where get your own eyes on it and form your own opinion now when it comes to the original Crow from 1994 starring Brandon Lee directed by Alex prus I love that film I think that film is absolute perfection and when they made that film back in '94 regardless of what tragically happened to Brandon Lee The Stars just aligned perfectly and then when it came time to The Crow City of Angels what they originally intended to do could have been so damn good but as a lot of us know that film was ultimately butchered by the Weinstein Brothers trying to make it exactly like the first 1994 film and now after a few other sequels here and there one starring Edward Furlong as the crow we now have a reboot a reimagining a retelling of James oar's original story now in terms of spoilers I'm going to be dancing around certain plot points certain spoilers so little pivotal moments in the film that really stood out to me so if that's a thing you might want to go see the film and come back and watch this review now when it comes to the premise of this film and the backstory of Eric and Shelly and he's just known as Eric not Eric Draven they actually dropped the Draven name when this film CED a lot of [ __ ] when the first trailer came out so it's just known as Eric and shell when it comes to their backstory when it comes to the premise of this film we see Eric and shell in a rehabilitation center they meet they fall in love they escape some shady things from Shell's Past come back to Haunter herself and Eric are ultimately killed Eric is resurrected he goes to the in between comes back is resurrected by a crow to seek Vengeance on the people who hurt himself and Shelly and of course hilarity ensues now amongst all that you got some interesting set pieces but I can honestly say that this has to be one of the most wooden and Hollow attempts at trying to recapture something that is so beloved and it sucks because it had so much potential with the cast and crew involved because they have done some amazing things in the past now let's get to the performances what really stood out to me in terms of a letdown was Bill skarsgard's performance as Eric slth Crow I felt like he was sleepwalking his way through this film his performance just felt like an afterthought which is really disappointing because the guy can act the guy is a wonderful character actor he's a wonderful performer and at times FKA twigs was upping him in the acting department and as far as I know this is her first film previously well she still is a singer to this day and that seems to be the general thing these days we we get all these SoundCloud rappers everyone who started out is singing and just throw them in their first movie and somehow they just managed to make it work sometimes they don't but I felt that her performance was quite intriguing I I dug it and it actually stood out a lot more than Bill skarsgard's performance and it's one of those things when you're playing the crow you have to be gothically charismatic you look at what Brandon Lee did in the original film there was this charm that he had even even though he's this tortured soul with Skarsgard it's just wooden Hollow and nothing there behind his eyes there is one sequence and again like I said I dance around spoilers when it comes to this review there's one sequence where he first gets shot after he's resurrected and he's trying to figure out how this all works and you see the wounds healing and at one point he has to push his own intestines back in his guts and I thought his performance when he screamed was spot on I'm like ooh that was a moment of greatness now when it comes to the relationship of Eric and Shelly and how they fall in love and their chemistry I felt it was way too rushed they didn't give it time to breathe it could have been one of those things where this could have worked as a really well done TV series you flesh out these characters you give them time to breathe especially when it comes to Eric and Shell's relationship there was something so beautifully endearing with Eric and Shell's relationship in the first film because they already had an established relationship whereas in this film we see them meet we see them under bad circumstances meeting which right off the bat is not a good thing and I just felt because they're just getting drunk and High the whole time that there's no real heart to their relationship they base it of getting drunk and getting high but going back to the first film you root for Eric and Shelly you want them to succeed you know he's a struggling musician but she sees the good in him she sees the potential in him and I just love that there was just something so endearing about that now Skarsgard doesn't D the crow appearance until about the third Act of the film The Beginning of the third act and at that point the film makes a choice to reveal something about Shelly that doesn't exactly paint her in the nicest light and at that point aric could have just thrown in the toil and said well this isn't worth it I just felt it was a bit of a slap in the face where this is kind of an all for nothing thing in his revenge Quest now when it comes to the action the action set pieces were actually pretty intriguing they were fun we saw a lot of them in the trailers like that opera scene where he's coming up the stairs and he's taken out all the goons all the Disposable goons that just have no substance have no Style but there's also a sequence in a car where he gets run over I I thought that was quite well done but even little pieces sprinkled throughout when he first gets resurrected and he's getting shot and he's figuring out how this all works and that he is indeed Immortal I think a big distraction and I equate this to Halloween 4 it's the makeup design and the choice to cover him in tattoos and I do not have a problem with tattoos but it just seems to be the running theme these days that when we have a damaged and broken individual whether it be an antagonist a protagonist we just cover them in tattoos because cuz that's cool that's hip I think if they just had a steered clear of that and just paid respect to what came before especially with the source material longer hair I think it could have been great and when I say I equate it to Halloween 4 it's because of the Mask in Halloween 4 is so distracting if they had to use the original mask from the first two films or something similar I think that could have elevated the film a little bit more even though the film is pretty good on a whole there is a bit of a distraction with that mask and I feel that's the same with the makeup design with Eric with the haircut I just feel like you could have had that beautiful long hair with the shell casing threaded into his hair I love the inclusion of the katana I think that was nice I think that's a nice throwback to the comic and he uses it really well there are little Throwbacks to the original Crow which I really dug like the intense closeup of the actual Crow his Guardian that's following him watching him I love that they really go in close on the eye like they did in the first film so little things here and there that I'm like okay that was nice that's a nice little throwback there the in between the design of the in between where it's between you know life and death and Eric stuck in this kind of purgatory when he's trying to figure things out and he has his guide there I thought that was quite intriguing it's this old abandoned Railway track and there's crows hovering everywhere and it just looks like Doom and Gloom hell even though it's the in between I thought that was quite interesting but when it comes to the villains as well the stakes are not high they're generic like I said with that opera scene they're just all disposable meat bags whereas the villains in the the first film had substance style they had their own individual personalities when Eric's picking them off one by one you're thinking how is this going to go down because all of them are so vastly different so guys overall I'm glad I watched the crow because I don't have to again it's one of those things where I knew this wasn't going to be good but I just had to see it with my own eyes I feel like most of the cast were sleepwalking their way through this especially scars guard when you are playing Eric Draven well in this case they just call him Eric the crow you have big shoes to fill you have to be charismatic you have to be gothically charming and unfortunately it's just a hollow and wooden performance and it could have been a decent and solid attempt at reimagining of what James Oar created what Alex prus and Brandon Lee did in '94 but this just comes off as having a movie made for tax purposes or a write- off or it's just an obligation at this point like I said Skarsgard sleep walks his way through this film and he seemingly takes a backseat in a film where he should be gothically shining and front and center the villains villains are two-dimensional and really often nothing new look there are some interesting elements and the design choices that I thought were intriguing but I feel that in 1994 like I said regardless of what tragically happened to Brandon Lee I feel like the stars just all aligned and what the cast and crew delivered was something that was never going to be topped and I'm one of those people when a remake gets announced I'm very open-minded I will always give it a chance but just what we had seen leading up to the release of this film film just wasn't looking good at all and unfortunately this film is not good and it sucks like you you'd hope that everyone had their hearts in it but it just didn't feel like that up on screen it felt like just slap Dash a tax write off an obligation and with that I'm going to be giving the crow 1 and A2 Penny wises out of five like I said there are some interesting and intriguing elements but it just doesn't save the film ultimately it's very forgetful now in terms of setting up for a equal it really doesn't and also with Eric's backstory with his troubled childhood it was an interesting choice I won't go to that I can leave that up for you guys to see and your thoughts on that but that being said guys drop a comment below and let me know your thoughts once you have seen the crow I feel like there are some people out there that may get a jonesing out of certain bits and pieces here and there and it definitely is one of those things where as generic as this sounds no one will ever play the crow like Brandon Lee did I think just what what he did in '94 was just so unique and lightning in a bottle and of course this is like a reimagining a retelling of James oar's original story with certain pieces changed here and there but if you're going to do it do it right love you guts and I'll catch you in the next one [Music]