That film of course also found notoriety due to the tragic accident on set that resulted in the death of talented leading man Brandon Lee. In a way that further cemented The Crow as a cult classic and probably should have served as a warning to never try to recreate the film’s magic.
There have been many attempts to try over the years with a few Crow spinoff films and TV shows surfacing, and while some of them had amazing soundtracks and good acting performances none ever matched the creativity of the original.
Now director Rupert Sanders (Ghost in the Shell) tries to reboot the franchise with actor Bill Skarsgard (It) taking on the role of the legendary hero Eric. Skarsgard’s version of Eric sees him as a downtrodden, haunted young man whose tragic upbringing results in him being placed in rehabilitation.
It is here where he meets gifted young musician, Shelly (FKA twigs – Honey Boy), who has deliberately placed herself in rehab in a good to escape being killed by the rich and powerful Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston – X-Men Origins: Wolverine), who has sent his right-hand-woman Marion (Laura Birn) to kill anybody who has an incriminating video of him.
While Eric and Shelly end up falling in love with each other, their love cannot protect them from Roeg and Marion and the resulting deaths end up unleashing Eric as the undead hero The Crow hellbent on revenge.
I would love to be able to say that the film has a much deeper plot, but it sadly doesn’t. The first half of the film plays out with a sickly-sweet love story that many of us have already seen in films like Twilight. In this case it is two of the healthiest-looking drug addicts that you are ever likely to see acting out a story that feels like it has been ripped straight from the pages of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.
Screenwriters Zach Baylin (King Richard) and Willian Josef Schneider (first time feature writer) then deal with the Good versus Evil storyline by reminding everybody that Roeg gets his powers from Satan while Eric is on a mission from God, while somehow managing to also mangle the mythology of the comics in such a way that you begin to question if they really understood it.
Then for the second half of the film it feels like Baylin and Schneider give up on the plot completely and try to make this a horror film as Eric just seems to slaughter everybody he comes across in a lame attempt to turn this into a gorefest. The result however is more of a snoozefest that leaves the audience losing interest in anything that is playing out on the screen at all.
The one saving point of this film is the performance of Bill Skarsgard. They actually nailed the casting of the role as he delivers a fairly decent portrayal of The Crow but he is sadly let down by the screenplay that gives him the kind of teenage dialogue that you would expect from the latest melodramatic teen television drama with a supernatural twist.
Likewise FKA twigs also does what she can with the script that she has been given while poor Danny Huston and Laura Birn find themselves trapped in stereotypical performances that leave them as menacing as a cute Golden Retriever puppy.
While there are many comic book fans out there who were hoping that this would see The Crow once again return to the top of the comic book pile, this instead becomes a film where the screenwriters and director felt that a sappy romance, some artistic looking purgatory scenes and a bloody kill spree could make the audience forget a lame stereotypical plotline. Sadly, for them it doesn’t and fans will have to wait a while longer for another decent film in this franchise.
The Crow is currently screening in Phuket and is rated ‘18’.
2/5 Stars
David Griffiths has been working as a film journalist for over 25 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He currently hosts a film podcast called The Popcorn Conspiracy. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes accredited reviewer and is an alternate judge for the Golden Globes Awards. You can follow him at Facebook: SubcultureEntertainmentAus