Totally Unnecessary

Despite having been announced almost 20 years ago, and in development hell ever since, the general question surrounding the remake of The Crow was: did we really need this? I’m not going to try and make the argument that the original film is perfect. It’s great, make no mistake, and so much of the storytelling (from the artistic design to the music to the acting) works so well, but it’s also a very 1990s film that might not play as well for modern audiences. From a certain perspective, in a certain light, I could see why someone somewhere might say, “hey, maybe a different version of The Crow is in order?”

But here’s the thing: you can make a movie about the Crow without actually remaking The Crow from 1994. That film (based on the comic of the same name) about a guy that loses his fiance in a horrific attack before dying himself, only to come back from the dead to seek revenge on all who were involved, works as its own slice of mythology. While the various sequels that came out after were of questionable quality, and none were nearly as good as the first film, they all established that mythical crow resurrects a number of people, and any sequel could star a new character on a new mission and it would work just fine. The comics too the same track, only using Eric Draven (the original character) for a few limited series before moving on to other resurrected heroes for further installments.

Thus I find it curious that the 2024 film feels the need to go and make a new version of Eric’s story. Whether you liked the original film or not, that movie is tied to actor Brandon Lee’s legacy (as he died during the filming of that movie). It’s his film, and he dominates the discussion of that film (as he should). By remaking the film the 2024 version draws unnecessary comparison to the original in a way that all the sequels managed to avoid. Sure, all of them sucked, as does this new movie, but they were just “side tales” and they didn’t matter. But when you have a new film that wants to be The Crow you have to make it good enough to justify it trying to take the place of the original film. And when it can’t even manage that, you have to wonder why it was even made?

Lionsgate is probably regretting making this film, of course, as it’s become one of the biggest (if not the biggest) Box Office flops of 2024. Not only is the film bad, for a whole multitude of reasons we’re going to get into, but audiences didn’t even seem to want to try and give it a chance. Call it superhero fatigue, or residual fatigue for fans of the original after all those terrible sequels in the 1990s and early 2000s, eroding trust in The Crow as a brand. Or just watch the trailer and see a bad advertising campaign for a bad movie. Whatever the case, this film tanked and now Lionsgate has egg on their faces for trying to remake a film that didn’t need to be remade.

Shelly (FKA Twigs) is a rich party girl who has wound up in a world of shit. There are people after her for a video of something that happened at a party, something really bad and really dark. If they catch her they’ll kill her, just like they killed her friend, Zadie (Isabella Wei). Her only way to escape is to get put somewhere these bad people can never find her, so when she thinks she’s being followed she gets herself arrested, spilling party drugs on the ground, and is thrown in a rehab clinic. There she meets Eric (Bill Skarsgård), another drug user and the man who will become the love of her life.

The two fall for each other over conversations and therapy sessions. When the people trying to find her come searching at the facility, Eric helps her escape, and the two flee into the city. They have a whirlwind romance, partying and enjoying life. But eventually the bad people find them. Shelly knows too much, knows about the demonic power that ringleader Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston) has, and so she has to die. Eric is just an innocent bystander and witness that has to go as well. But then he comes back, reanimated by the power of the crows, and now he’s out for revenge.

There is a lot wrong with this film, but before we get into all that I do at least want to compliment the one thing this film gets right: the acting. While I don’t really think Skarsgård or Twigs are right for the versions of these characters I have in my head, that neither really works even in the context of the film as it’s presented, I do think they are a couple of great actors. They have charisma, they seem genuinely invested in their roles, and I think in a different version of this movie, one that actually understood what it was doing and could do it properly, they could have been solid. I just don’t think this film knew how to use them, or any of the other fine actors it pulled into this train wreck of a film.

A big issue is the story, which takes a long time to get going before, then, glossing over so many details. Shelly is our intro into the film, the character we follow around for the first act. Her fear, her danger is what motivates the film and gets it moving. We don’t know what she saw on the video or why she’s so worried, but we do get that there are people after her and she’s in danger. So all the moves she takes from there to escape, to be safe, to find sanctuary, that all makes sense. But once she gets into the institution and starts hanging around Eric, the movie makes a fatal mistake: it stops focusing on Shelley. From this point forward she’s no longer the heroine of the film, but a supporting character, and Eric takes the lead spot.

This is what I mean about the film unnecessarily being a remake of the 1994 film (and the 1989 comic before it). The film tries very hard to make Shelley into more than a briefly seen character whose death motivates the hero. It tries to fully realize her, giving her context within the film and making her more connected to the story, which all makes sense. That’s great. But because she’s the connection to the film, while Eric is just this side-pieces she picks up on her adventure, the film should remain about her. Instead of fridging her (as the film does) to motivate Eric, he should be the one that dies while Shelley inherits the power of the crow to set right the mistakes she made and the danger she brought with her. That’s a character arc that makes sense.

But we can’t have that because this is a remake and Eric was the hero previously. Can’t let the lady be the lead of her own film when Eric is the one everyone was supposed to cheer for, right? The whole concept of this film was flawed from act one.

Not that things really get better after this. The second act sees Eric trying to figure out who he is now that he’s alive again. There’s a lot of talk about the power of the crow, long conversations between Eric and the mysterious Kronos (Sami Bouajila), who essentially acts as a ferryman in this film. The whole second act drags because Eric has to commit to being the Crow and yet the film has his wavering and doubting and not embracing who he is. It’s a lot of talk, not a lot of action, and the film continues to lack proper life throughout its first hour and fifteen minutes.

Really the film only picks up right before it’s about to end. Eric finds a way (without spoiling anything here) to embrace the power of the crows, and suddenly we start getting over the top action, lots of energy, everything that we were missing for the first two acts and everything that this film actually needed to be, you know, fun. Yes, it’s a movie about a guy going on a revenge spree to avenge his dead girlfriend, but that doesn’t preclude having great action and some fun with it. The 1994 film managed to have fun even as it let Eric grieve; this movie could have had that as well.

And then we have to add on all the other things the film gets wrong. It’s a very blandly filmed movie without any artsiness or style. The music rarely finds any energy to it and certainly it doesn’t properly underscore the scenes and themes of the movie (such as they are). It leads to a film without a modicum of the style or substance of the 1994 original. Even if you haven’t seen that film and don’t have it as a comparison that doesn’t save this movie; it’s still shallow, bland, and boring to watch, a tedious affair to sit through because of all of its many flaws.

While I think somewhere, somehow, a good The Crow film could be made with the right idea, this was not it. We didn’t need a remake of the 1994 movie, and we certainly didn’t need this remake, that’s for sure. The producers would have been better off trying to make a different film based on The Crow, one inspired by any number of the other comics in the series to draw inspiration. Eric and Shelly already had that movie, back in 1994, and it was great. Do something new, something fresh, focusing on the right characters with the right style, and it could be great. Just avoid this film because, man, 2024’s The Crow is utter trash.