If ever there was a listing for film remakes that were potentially setting themselves up for a pretty nasty fall, then The Crow must be somewhere in there. The original 1994 film may have aged somewhat, but it still touches a nerve, has a distinctive goth style, and real empathy for James O’Barr’s personal comic-book story. Brandon Lee was great in the lead, which was seen as a shoo-in to bigger projects, but his tragic on-set death tinged the project with sadness and lost opportunities. The subsequent sequels-in-name-only (City of Angels in 1996, Salvation in 2000, and Wicker Prayer in 2005) were disappointing, as was the TV series (Stairway to Heaven in 1999 ). The concept of a reboot or remake was/is mostly perceived as being unnecessary, but that hasn’t stopped it from happening. Plans for a new movie have been dragged around for an insane amount of time, with the likes of Jason Momoa, Mark Wahlberg (!?!), Tom Hiddleston, James McAvoy, Luke Evans, Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum, and many, many others all being considered for the lead in the last 16 years. Seriously. This journey through development hell is very well documented. But it was only in 2020 that the project got fully greenlit with Bill Skarsgård as the titular character, somewhat ironically as his brother (Alexander) was linked with it previously. So with director Rupert Sanders at the helm, The Crow has now swooped on cinemas in the UK and the US

 

After a (slightly odd) flashback that segues into the credits, we meet Shelly (FKA Twigs), who is apparently a slacker in high society in a US city that hides a dark secret. Having incriminating video evidence on crime magnate Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston, who must be capable of playing arrogant scumbags in his sleep now), Shelly only avoids the attentions of a hitman due to literally running into some cops whilst dropping a stash of drugs. She’s sent to a “recovery centre” (which seems to use bullying and Hemingway quotes to get the best results), where she meets Eric Draven (Skarsgård). Immediately falling in love… for some reason… they make a getaway and head back to the city to screw around and skin up… rather than go a bit further away and be somewhat safer. Roeg’s cronies find them of course and kill them both. End of story. Accept it’s not. Draven travels to a purgatorial landscape where he meets Kronos (Sami Bouajila), who seems to be some kind of mysterious spirit guide. He helps Draven channel the powers of the “Crow”, a psychopomp that enables Draven to be invulnerable in the corporeal realm. Now all he has to do is kill all of Roeg’s associates, the man himself, and both he and Shelly can return to the land of the living. Or not.

 

As soon as the review embargo was lifted, the vast majority of critics descended upon The Crow and pecked it to bits. And you can understand why. Despite its flaws, the original 1994 movie had heart and Brandon Lee’s legacy to contend with. It was also something of a ground-breaker at the time. Along with Blade (1998) and the two Tim Burton Batman movies, it solidified the concept of dark and gothic comic-book adaptations, away from all the camp “bam” & “pow” imagery that was associated with such material at the time. Plus the fact that O’Barr’s original story came from personal anger and grief, some of which tangibly carried over to the Brandon Lee version in a way that was commercially acceptable. These are just a few reasons why the original has such a committed fan base. It’s also a few things that are missing from this version. Because, despite a few positives, which we’ll get to in a minute, this “Crow” is lacking the key ingredients that will make it a modern-day hit.

 

First off, it’s very likely that Skarsgård will get away from this with his reputation intact. Still best known as Pennywise, he was also good value in the underrated smack-fest that was Boy Kills World earlier this year. He hasn’t got a huge amount of dialogue, but he gives an earnest performance and it’s actually pretty cool to see him go from the meek and monosyllabic victim at the beginning, to the samurai sword-wielding assassin at the end. The grungy look still seems ill-advised and he’s never the rock musician that Brandon Lee was, but his charisma just about carries it through, and he dominates the action sequences. Sadly, there aren’t enough hi-octane shenanigans for the running time, and most have been spoilt by trailers. But (and this appears to be a divisive opinion for some), the opera house sequence is absolutely superb. Draven’s encounter with numerous henchmen in a lavish entranceway is wonderfully juxtaposed with the performances on stage (“Robert le Diable”  composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer, for culture hounds). It might be CG’ed but the graphic sight of decapitations, leg-lopping, and graphic head-bisecting is given some class and innovation whilst accompanied by the fervent opera score. Noice. If the intensity and innovation displayed in these five minutes had been carried throughout the film, things might have been different.

 

As it stands though, there are way too many other negative factors that make it a disappointment. Perhaps most off-putting is that the central romance doesn’t convince. In the original film (and comic), Draven is dead for a whole year before being resurrected and you never doubted that his long-term love for Shelly was transcendental, even though it was seen mostly in flashbacks. In this version, Draven is up and kicking minutes after being snuffed out. Also, although the timeline is rough, it seems like he’s only been in love with her for days or weeks at most. It doesn’t feel like the star-crossed lovers situation that it should be. It’s not helped by the performance of Twigs, who never gets the emotions needed across on screen. It all seems a bit sudden and superficial, so that great emotional wrenching effect of life’s cruelty and the bastardy of the bad guys, which is essential for the story to work, is never really there.

 

Speaking of the bad guys, they’re an odd lot. For some reason, the simple villainy of “Top Dollar” (marvellously played by Michael Wincott in the first film) isn’t enough here. Although it’s left bafflingly vague, Vincent Roeg is (allegedly) some kind of centuries-old big bad, who’s made a deal with the devil to sacrifice innocents in his place… and he can whisper people to death. Not making that up. WTAF is that all about?! Sure, the Crow mythology is supernatural in essence, but why bring that element into the mix for the antagonist? Isn’t it evil enough just to be a crime lord and psychopath these days? Just… weird. It doesn’t help that most of Roeg’s cronies are nameless thugs and that actors like Laura Birn are wasted by failing to give them any motivation or real personality. At least you could understand the nasty nature of “Top Dollar”… and he didn’t need to whisper people to death. The denouement and final face-off between good and bad are unsatisfactory because of these issues and lack simple impact.

 

There are one or two moments of uniqueness or innovation. The depiction of Purgatory, being a flooded railway station surrounded by towering metalwork structures, is quite eye-catching. But apart from that, much of the film is overlong and takes far too much time to find its pace. The decision to delve into the “origin” of the Draven and Shelly romance to such an extent is probably due to the desire to flesh out the character of the female protagonist, but it makes for dull watching. Even when Draven gets his “powers”, he is initially like a clumsy terminator crossed with a gumshoe detective, having to succumb to several “game over” scenes before he gets fully “crowed-up” and really gets into the swing of things. But this doesn’t happen soon enough. For a film that takes this amount of time over exposition and scene-setting, it’s annoying that so many things are unsaid and undeveloped. What’s the deal with Shelly and her mother? Who is Kronos? Why does Roeg take an interest in the piano player? What is Roeg’s endgame? Why has Roeg got such a cob-on about the video footage when he’s not the one committing a crime? Spoilers? Not really, because these plot threads never get going and never go anywhere.

 

And on top of that, the film has an overblown and intrusive indie rock soundtrack that aches to be cool and stylish but ends up being annoying and distracting for the most part. It is perhaps not the disaster that some critics make it out to be. It’s certainly not wholly unwatchable, just messy and disappointing in parts and Skarsgård is good in the role, if somewhat wasted. It’s tempting to say skip the first half and watch the better scenes in the latter acts, but that’s no way to see a film on the big screen. Anyway, after initial reactions, perhaps now they’ll let sleeping crows lie and the franchise to get some rest.