Soulmates Eric and Shelly are brutally murdered. Given a chance to save the love of his life, Eric must sacrifice himself and traverse the worlds of the living and the dead, seeking revenge.
The original film adaptation of “The Crow” was released in 1994. That film, a grimy revenge thriller infamous for starring Brandon Lee in his final role, has gone on to have a huge cult following. It’s one of those movies that many cinephiles feel is blasphemous to remake. Of course, with the onslaught of unoriginal ideas romping around Hollywood, we now have a remake of “The Crow.”
It’s not all doom and gloom for this movie. Well… story-wise, it is. Director Rupert Sanders’ film still features the story of two brutally murdered lovers. However, the story has been revamped, and the style has drastically changed (while managing to hang on to the goth sensibilities of the original).
Rupert Sanders has made a career for himself, making mediocre remakes of cult favorites. He’s the director responsible for “Snow White and the Huntsman” and the live-action adaptation of “Ghost in the Shell.” While “The Crow” isn’t as bad as many were anticipating, it’s not much to write home about either — not that I’m a huge fan of the original movie, which is alright, but honestly, it doesn’t do much for me. My reaction to the remake is very similar.
This go round, the story leans heavily into the supernatural elements. There’s a big bad, Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston), who goes around whispering in people’s ears to make them do unspeakable things to themselves or others. The movie opens with Shelly (FKA Twigs) receiving a call from her friend Zadie (Isabella Wei) warning her that she’s sent a video to someone and they are in danger. As Shelly attempts to rendezvous with Zadie, she runs into a couple of cops, dropping her bag. Some drugs fall out, and she winds up arrested.
Shelly soon finds herself locked in a rehab center, where she meets Eric (Bill Skarsgård). The pair fall for each other and, when the baddies come looking for Shelly, escape rehab together. As we already know, their love is ill-fated, and her past comes back with a vengeance, resulting in their violent deaths. However, Eric is resurrected and allowed to “right the wrong,” reluctantly unleashing a blood bath in his pursuit of the head honcho (Huston).
Stylistically, this is a much sleeker movie. Everything feels more polished from the grungy/griminess of the ’94 movie. It’s not necessarily better or worse for the story, just different. While Eric’s revenge is more hesitant here, he eventually gives in to the vengeance, with the film taking some heavy influence from the “John Wick” series for its action. The action is pretty brutal. Lots of blood and guts flying around once the story gets going in the second half. It’s definitely not a movie for squeamish audience members.
I thought the performances were fine. Skarsgård and FKA Twigs work well off of each other even though their relationship is very sudden and kind of forced (don’t think about it too much and go with it). Skarsgård handles himself well with the action sequences.
There are some elements I could have done without. After he dies, Eric winds up in a purgatory-like space where a mentor-like character explains things to him. It’s silly and, unfortunately, something the movie continually returns to in the second act. Then, there’s the finale, which minimizes everything that has happened and raises the question of what actually did happen.
Overall, the movie is paced well, though there are a handful of spots where I felt things could have been tweaked for the better; however, it’s entertaining/engaging enough to keep you watching. This is probably not a movie people will go out of their way to revisit. It’s also not the train wreck that was anticipated. Fans of the original will probably want to avoid the movie, but those with an open mind might find this enjoyable.
In Theaters Friday, August 23rd
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