The Crow (2024) is a new retelling of the independent comic book series and graphic novel that was first adapted into the classic 1994 film starring Brandon Lee role.
The 1994 version was highly anticipated, at the time, due to it being Lee’s final film and also saw him moving away from the martial arts and action genre and chose to make this one which was more character driven, supernatural thriller. The film went on to make a cultural impact with it’s gothic visuals, grunge/alternative needle drops and supernatural storytelling. It also found a place in the heart of fans, universally.
Despite having less successful sequels and a TV series which saw the excellent Mark Dacascos fill the boots of leading character Eric Draven, a new version was reported be in production, for over a decade, with a range of actors announced to be in the lead, from Mark Wahlberg to Jason Momoa attached.
Now we have the 2024 version with Bill Skaskard in the lead as Eric. This time round we have a back-story. We first see a young Eric having to help a distressed and wounded horse by ending it from suffering. Cut to present day, Shelly (FKA Twigs) is warned by a friend that a high class cult, who happen to dabble with possession and taking souls, is after her. Of all places she finds herself hiding in rehabilitation centre. It is here where she first connects with loner Eric and together they start a bond that sees them escaping the centre to be delinquents on the run. While hiding out with friends and hanging out at raves, we spend time seeing the two fall deeper in love with one another and become soulmates.
It is then at the point that the familiar story of murder and revenge starts.
The 1994 film happens to be one of my all-time favourite films. Despite the tragic loss of Brandon, the stunning mostly black and white filtered visuals, the energetic grunge and alternative soundtrack and great performances definitely contributed to making the film an epic. We also got to see more emotional range in Brandon Lee’s final role, getting to show that he’s capable of much more as an actor and a leading man. The film itself became iconic in pop culture and got to be referenced in The Dark Knight and paved the way for darker themed anti-heroes on film such as Blade and Spawn
This version of The Crow is filled with a lot of creative choices, in fact too many. This does not stop the film from being fun and there are some impressively slick, gory fight scenes and shoot-outs. However, Danny Houston, as great an actor as he is, just feels like a by the numbers villain. He does not really get to do anything new in anyway or stand out as Michael Wincott did as Top Dollar, in the original. Also his reasoning for killing people goes unexplained. We are supposed to believe that he is taking his orders from the devil.
There are some great ideas in this that would have worked better in a non-Crow related film or if even this was presented as a new tale in The Crow saga based around two original characters that fall in love instead of being another Eric and Shelly. As for this film, as difficult as it is not to compare to the original, there is style, a great soundtrack and interesting ideas but no just substance or soul.
