The Crow (2024)

The Crow (2024)

 

5/10

Starring          

Bill Skarsgård

FKA Twigs

Danny Huston

 

Directed by Rupert Sanders

 

I stayed away from reviews to avoid bias in my view of this movie. The Crow (1994) is, to me, one of the best movies I have ever seen. I love it so much that it’s a 10/10 on my blog because of how good it is. It digresses (more than half) from the comic on which it is based because the movie portrays Eric as a hero, whereas the comic presents him as someone who is not mentally stable. Notwithstanding, the 1994 adaptation is amazing.

When this movie started, and I saw that this reboot plot is straying from both the original and the comic, I began to worry.

The plot of The Crow, as I know it from the comic and the original movie, shows Eric and Shelly without much connection to drugs or rehab. But, as I continued watching, I realized this movie is its own adaptation, delving into its own material, much like the various sequels of The Crow after the 1994 version.

For that reason, I am judging this movie on its own merits as a film, like I’ve done with all the sequels that followed the 1994 version.

The plot is about Eric and Shelly, two drug addicts who met at a rehabilitation center. Shelly’s friend recorded an incident involving Shelly and Roeg on her phone, and sent the video to Shelly, but she was killed for having it. Shelly is hiding in the rehab center while on the run. When she discovers she has been found, she and Eric escape the rehab and start a life together. However, Roeg sends people after them, and they soon catch up with the couple, killing them both. Eric is brought back to life by the Crow, tied to the land of the living by his pure love for Shelly. Now, he must exact revenge on the people who killed her and also kill Roeg.

On its own basis, the main problem with this movie is the bad pacing and the lack of depth in the antagonist, Roeg. It takes almost forty-five minutes to show the effects of Eric being brought back to life by the Crow. Additionally, there is a lack of fluidity in the reasoning behind some of the actions. For instance, while it’s clear the antagonist sends innocents to hell for eternal life, the film does not sufficiently explain how he obtained this deal, who else is involved in it, and how he is able to grant this delay of death to others or if he can.

I wouldn’t say the movie is unwatchable, but it lacks the impact of a film I’d want to watch again. Additionally, there are so many loose ends that it feels like the creators were hoping to turn it into a franchise. Sadly for them but fortunately for audiences, the poor box-office returns will likely prevent that from happening anytime soon.