{"id":2694,"date":"2024-08-23T14:27:05","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T14:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2694"},"modified":"2024-10-19T21:53:55","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T01:53:55","slug":"the-crow-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/23\/the-crow-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"The Crow (2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Crow<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lionsgate\/Horror-Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 111 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence, gore, language, sexuality\/nudity, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Rupert Sanders\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Zach Baylin and William Schneider\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Volker Bertelmann\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Steve Annis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 23, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bill Skarsgard, FKA Twigs, Danny Huston, Josette Simon, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, Karel Dobry, Jordan Bolger, Sebastian Orozco, David Bowles, Tundy Smith, Samba Goldin, Isabella Wei, Jordan Haj, Darija Pavlovicova.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0A thought occurred to me tonight as I endured the remake of The Crow<\/strong>. Remakes are a no-win situation. People will either complain it\u2019s too much like the original or too different from the original. There\u2019s no pleasing anybody with a remake of a popular movie so why even bother? Somebody said the makers of The Crow<\/strong> wanted to update it so it would relatable to today\u2019s audiences. Young people just wouldn\u2019t get the 1994 original. I say BS! It\u2019s just another pitiful attempt to sell inferior product to gullible Gen-Z audiences who actively avoid films made before 1999.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In case you couldn\u2019t tell, I love the original version of The Crow. It\u2019s a perfect blend of Gothic horror, revenge tale and love story. Based on the comic book series by James O\u2019Barr, it\u2019s probably most famous for the tragedy that occurred on-set, the accidental killing of star Brandon Lee. I remember it like it was yesterday. There was some talk about cancelling the film altogether, but the makers decided to finish it to honor the deceased lead. I\u2019m glad they followed through on it, it\u2019s absolutely brilliant. That\u2019s the Crow audiences should watch. Not any of the lame sequels and definitely not this lousy remake\/reboot\/re-whatever.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The basic premise is the same. After the hero and his girlfriend are murdered, he comes back from the dead to avenge her. All similarities to the OG end there. In the new version, Eric Draven (Skarsgard, It) is a troubled young man who meets the love of his life Shelley (avant-pop singer FKA Twigs) in a drug rehabilitation facility. Some bad people are after her because her friend sent her a video containing something that crime lord Vincent Roeg (Huston, Angel Has Fallen) doesn\u2019t want the world to see. When some of his people show up at the facility, Eric helps Shelley escape. She tells him it\u2019s dangerous to stay with her, but he sticks around anyway. True love knows no fear.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Their happiness is short-lived unfortunately. Roeg\u2019s goons, led by right-hand woman Marian (Birn, A Walk Among the Tombstones), find them and kill them both or so they think. Shelley descends into darkness while Eric finds himself in some weird limbo-like place where a spirit guide (Bouajila, Days of Glory) tells him he must go back and kill all the killers if he wants to save Shelley from eternal damnation. So that\u2019s what he does, but he takes his own sweet time doing it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman), The Crow<\/strong> moves at a snail\u2019s pace. It spends the first 45 minutes on Eric and Shelley falling in love and doing the things young people in love do. I kept waiting for Mazzy Star\u2019s \u201cFade Into You\u201d to start playing. Then they get killed. Now you would think that The Crow<\/strong> would finally kick into gear once Eric returns from the dead. NOPE! It still moves slowly as Eric tries to piece together why somebody wanted Shelley dead.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Meanwhile, Roeg becomes aware of Eric\u2019s return and orders his people to bring him back \u201calive\u201d. He wants his power. You see, Roeg isn\u2019t your ordinary crime boss. He\u2019s something supernatural; what, I have no idea. It\u2019s never explained. All we\u2019re shown is that Roeg can take control of people\u2019s minds and make them do bad stuff. That\u2019s not the only thing that goes unexplained. I would have liked to know more about Eric\u2019s past aside from his neglectful drunken mother. Why is he in a drug rehab center that\u2019s run like a prison (yet disturbingly easy to escape from)? Why is he such a wimp? His character gets zero development.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The screenplay by Zach Baylin and William Schneider has so many deficiencies like the attractive young pianist (Pavlovicova) who Roeg takes an interest in. They seem to be going somewhere with this plot thread, but it gets dropped and she\u2019s forgotten. This has to be one of the most half-assed scripts I\u2019ve ever seen committed to film.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Before I continue to bash The Crow<\/strong>, a treatment it richly deserves, it would be unfair of me not to mention the one good part. Eric decides to attend an opera, but not to see the show. He\u2019s there to finish off the remaining members of Roeg\u2019s crew. It\u2019s a total bloodbath as he uses a sword to slice, dice and skewer his way through more than a dozen bodyguards before confronting a cowering Marian. It\u2019s a cool scene despite the gore being CGI. The problem is we have to wait about 90 minutes for it. When he\u2019s done there, the movie goes back into sleep mode for the unthrilling climactic showdown between Eric and Roeg.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I don\u2019t what\u2019s worse in The Crow<\/strong>, the acting or the characters. They\u2019re both pretty bad, but I\u2019m going to have to give the win to the latter. The original has a memorable set of characters, especially the bad guys. Who doesn\u2019t remember Top Dollar, Myca, T-Bird and Grange? It\u2019s been just over 12 hours since I saw the new one and I couldn\u2019t name a single villain from memory. It helps immensely that the OG baddies are played by greats like Michael Wincott, Bai Ling, David Patrick Kelly and Tony Todd. I\u2019d have to consult IMDb to tell you who played the villains in the new movie. Not that any one of them stands out at all. They don\u2019t, not a single one of them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting is simply terrible. I usually like Skarsgard. He was awesome as Pennywise the Clown in the It movies. Anybody who can give Tim Curry a run for his money is okay in my book. Sadly, he doesn\u2019t repeat the same feat in The Crow<\/strong>. He\u2019s nowhere close to being in the same league as Brandon Lee. They\u2019re not even in the same galaxy. The word I\u2019d use to describe his performance is \u201cinert\u201d. He\u2019s as lifeless as they come in an iconic role. You can hear it in every line reading. Worst of all, he has no chemistry with FKA Twigs. It looks and feels forced. She\u2019s not much better than her co-star in the role of doomed girlfriend. Huston basically just wears the suit as the main villain, a forgettable sort who never projects a sense of menace.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Another defining aspect of the original is the emotional content. It\u2019s palpable. You can feel the love Eric has for Shelley. You can the depth of the hurt being felt by Sarah, the young girl they took care of and now has nobody but her drug addict mom. There\u2019s none of that in The Crow<\/strong>. It\u2019s completely devoid of feeling. The director fails to make the viewer feel anything for the young lovers. It\u2019s one of the film\u2019s biggest failings.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The look of The Crow<\/strong> is amazingly generic. The original has a dark, grungy 90s aesthetic that still looks impressive. This new one looks like any other movie. The soundtrack is a letdown too. I couldn\u2019t name a single song from it, but the friend I saw it with picked out a David Bowie song from his final album. Either way, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be a hot seller just like I don\u2019t think the film will be a hot ticket at the box office. The turnout for last night\u2019s show was pathetic and it\u2019s only going to get worse once word gets out that the movie sucks. The makers should be forced to apologize to O\u2019Barr, Alex Proyas (director of the OG) and the estate of Brandon Lee for doing what they did to the property. It\u2019s not a tribute, it\u2019s an insult.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Crow (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lionsgate\/Horror-Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 111 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence, gore, language, sexuality\/nudity, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Rupert Sanders\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Zach Baylin and William Schneider\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Volker Bertelmann\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Steve Annis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 23, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bill Skarsgard, FKA Twigs, Danny Huston, Josette Simon, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, Karel Dobry, Jordan Bolger, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/The-Crow-2024-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2694"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3636,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions\/3636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}