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THE CROW (2024)
Director: Rupert Sanders Cast: Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs, Danny Huston, Josette Simon, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, Isabella Wei, Jordan Bolger, Karel Dobrý, Sebastian Orozco, David Bowles MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:51 Release Date: 8/23/24 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 23, 2024 Thirty years after the near-great original, here's The Crow, a hyper-violent reboot of material that tried to be replicated or reconfigured with no success over three sequels. The 1994 film was released in the shadow of the tragic on-set death of its lead actor Brandon Lee, whose performance almost surely would have made him a star, and still stands as one of the most stylish and atmospheric comic-book superhero films. One wants to root for director Rupert Sanders' new version, if only because the concept of the main character is so strong and it feels as if we're due for something distinct in a genre that has been defined by a sense of sameness for so long. This blandly visualized and haphazardly executed movie isn't what the genre needs, we want, or the material deserves, though. For one thing, it spends too much time with the shallow romance that drives our hero's supernatural mission for revenge. Giving us a sense of the love between Eric (Bill Skarsgård), who will be resurrected by and gain the powers of a mystical crow, and Shelly (FKA Twigs) is a fine notion in theory and as a corrective to the ever-present cliché of a dead girlfriend/fiancée/wife whose only characteristic of note is that she's killed. By the time she and her beau are murdered by the ruthless cronies of an unnatural villain, though, the only notable thing about them is their inevitable fate. Well, there's also the convoluted means of their meeting. They're both drug addicts, with Eric suffering unspecified trauma involving a wounded horse and a neglectful mother and a flash of their trailer home burning late in the movie. He's currently in a high-security rehabilitation facility where most of the trappings of security turn out to be for show. Eric and Shelly, who shows up there and instantly falls for him for the reason that she needs to in order for the plot to happen, easily escape from the facility and start living on the lam. As for how Shelly ends up in rehab, that will take some explaining. She's sent a video by a friend, showing something that a powerful person doesn't want anyone to see. The friend is killed by Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston), or more accurately, Roeg whispers something into the young woman's ear, making her eyes turn glassy and convincing her to kill herself in a grisly way. Roeg drops some insidious dialogue about living for centuries, making a deal with some dark force, and holding up his end of the contract by sending innocent souls to hell (One would think we're past such theologically judgmental thoughts about suicide, but here we are, apparently). The first and last time this movie series attempted an explicitly supernatural villain was the last time anyone made one of these movies for almost 20 years. Screenwriters Zach Baylin and William Josef Schneider probably should have learned some kind of lesson from that. Anyway, Roeg wants Shelly dead and to obtain the video, and after some cavorting and canoodling and cagy declarations of love, Eric and Shelly are found by some of the villain's associates. They're killed, and Eric somehow re-awakens, killing another of Roeg's goons and seemingly dying in the process. He then awakens in a kind of in-between afterlife, where Kronos (Smi Bouajila) explains the myth of the crow and the rules of being resurrected by its power. He's not actually dead or, for that matter, alive, although he is practically invincible and might return Shelly to life if he avenges her death. Honestly, it's too much to explain, especially since Baylin and Schneider keep finding new rules, complications, and otherworldly agreements to introduce every so often as Eric seeks revenge. There's surely a simpler version of this narrative that doesn't become bogged down by altering the supernatural mechanics and shifting the stakes at multiple turns, and we know that's the case, simply because the original film exists. When it's just about the revenge mission, the movie is on to something, mainly in showing just how much damage Eric can take and recover from in his undead form. At one point, he has to push his intestines back into his abdomen, and in another, a semi-truck runs over him, forcing him to shove his broken leg back into place. It's nasty stuff, yes, but also practical in terms of what this character would have to endure and darkly humorous. The abundant violence goes for a similar approach and tone, as Eric slashes and shoots—sometimes using and through his own body—assorted henchmen. Whatever bloody inspiration Sanders tries to bring to The Crow, though, is passed over and still remains in service of an unwieldly but hollow narrative. Copyright © 2024 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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