Once again a remake try to top out its 90s predecessor and you just can't, you had actors like Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott, Ernie Hudson, that is a fkn hard task, so let’s talk about the newest Hollywood movie remake “The Crow (2024)”, I was rather skeptical about this one. I already had in mind this was not going to be better than the OG, on one hand I wanted to know how they would re create the movie which appeared in 1994. In the other hand I was concerned that they might interfere with something that in fact didn’t require interference, trying to reinvent the wheel, after two hours of watching this movie, I can state that my concerns were not completely groundless. The lights go out and the movies takes you to a world which is meant to be gloomy, mysterious and full of teenage Gothic depression, what you end up with is a film that is trying to be as dark and serious as it possibly can and fails more times than not.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340094/
- Platform: AppleTV+
RottenTomatoes Rating
The main character of the story is Eric Draven portrayed by Bill Skarsgard and we first see him in some sort of a rehabilitation center and I do not mind giving characters a history but this seemed to be taking it to another level for what seems like forever we get stuck with watching Eric sulk and relive a childhood memory of a dying horse. I get that his character might be very traumatic and probably tortured by the idea but it had to do more than just that, feels like writers ran out of ideas.
Then we got the main character’s love interest Shelly played by FKA Twigs who is also a patient in this rehab center, she is being followed by some bad guys and there is obviously a lot of chemistry between her and Eric. They run away from the facility; I must say that the security of this place is laughable at best, and fall in love instantly, which is as complex as a children’s fairy tale. It’s all about getting tattooed, going clubbing and kissing at the same time trying to hide from the rest of the world. It’s as if one sat down and watched a number of music videos from the early 2000s and said, “Yes, that’s how true love is”.
Their happiness does not last very long because this is “The Crow” we are talking about here, they are killed mercilessly by Vincent’s goons which are portrayed by Danny Huston, the main antagonist of the movie. Now, here’s where it should get good and the supernatural kicks in, Eric rises back from the dead, boosted by the spirit of the Crow and is all set to bring the heat down on those who crossed him and his beloved. That may sound good and dandy in theory but the real thing is a bit boring, predictable and a bit of cliche, this two remind me of Carnage and his Girlfriend, that couple fall flat too.
Lets land into the cast, even an actor like Bill Skarsgard, who has shown that he can be downright terrifying in ‘It’ here looks out of place, not that this is a full blown horror movie but at least look menace, he has been provided with some of the most cheesy lines and even the best of talents cannot do much about such lines as, "If you ever find me hard to love, please love me even harder" (something along that line) and that's for both Eric and Shelly, who wrote this stuff? FKA Twigs is not bad in her first acting role, but given her character is as shallow, there’s not much she can do.
It is also important to mention the role of the villain Vincent is played by Danny Huston which is probably the biggest disappointment, this is an actor who can go hard on a role, remember him from a few movies like Wrath of the Titans (2012) and Wonder Women (2017) to name a few, but here he is hands tight in a character that is suppose to be menacing although falls dry too. This man is presented as an immortal agent of Satan but this man seems more like a businessman who is irritated because he has other places to be.
Although I have been very negative on my latest posts but to be honest there is not much to watch lately and had to go through a set of backlog that I put aside for a reason, they are mediocre or less. On The Crow (2024) not all was lost and there were a few great scenes that I cant denied, I am only able to recall a scene in this movie that made me feel the thrill. It is a opera house and it’s seen when Eric, fully transformed into Crow, goes on a rampage that can only be described as savage. There were a couple of scenes which I hoped, “Ah, this is where the action starts!” but nope, it was just a false dawn in a slow moving movie.
For all the flaws the movie has the loyal fan base that are this point are mostly over 30 years old so you cant teach us new tricks, have not receive this movie in a positive way to say the least. I have heard of people walking out the theater, but for me that's is just too dramatic and reason why for some movies I just wait to drop on "streaming" platforms since I would be left with the feeling that the movie did not meet my expectations. There are those who are offended to what they consider a sacrilege and then there are those who are bored to death, but again just too dramatic for my taste. The audience online did murder the movie rating and there was no chance its coming back from the death.
Here's the thing that really gets me about this remake: It is entirely d of the essence that made the first “The Crow” film so effective in the first place. Despite the 2024 version been more appealing to the eye because of how far the industry has gone in tech and visual effects still the 1994 version had more depth, acting, its everything about those days where the environment and the scenery felt more natural and real, it was also a story that was filled with love, the loss of a dear one and the effects of taking the law into his own hands. There is something about taking justice by your hands that need to be shown lawless and that everything goes mix with anger, its not easy to be believable while acting like this. This new version? It is all show and no go looking very modern and candy eye type, it can only be likened to them saying: Okay, lover story, be predictable, guy comes back from the death, John Wick 4 bad guy in....GO GO GO GO. May be I'm been too harsh on it but I'm also too soft on my reviews most of the time so just give me this one.
The ending of The Crow (2024) is quite different from the ending of the 1994 film and that's upsetting too, although it has left some space for the possibility of sequels while at the same time giving Eric his due finale. Finally, Eric kills Vincent Roeg and after the climax, sacrifices himself and stays in the afterlife in order to bring Shelly back to life. Shelly is however resurrected from dead by the paramedics at her apartment, what appears to be just a few minutes after her death. This resurrection seems to give the impression that the clock is turned back and some of the incidents that happened during Eric’s rampage of vengeance are erased.
The ending of the left me with questions regarding the nature of afterlife in the movie, this is me again been soft on the movie so lets say because of the supernatural topic at hand they could interpret his retribution and acts of self justice erased because of his sacrifice, something like what Constantine did when he calls the devil himself to pick him up. While Shelly is revived, Eric stays in the purgatory like world between the life and the death with the company of the magical crows, this ending also allows for sequels, since Eric may appear as a ghost to fight evil in future films of the series, this movie could probably been better into a TV series if they wanted to change or extend the story that much. Director Rupert Sanders said that there is a satisfactory ending to the story of Eric and Shelly and at the same time, the ending is open ended to allow for a sequel, I doubt after the audience reception this movie would get a sequel but hey there is The Watchers!!.
In conclusion, “The Crow (2024)” is perhaps an example of what may be referred to as style without substance, it’s got all the gothic, tortured anti hero details you could want, but none of the path, acting and depth from the characters which made the original movie so good.
