The Crow [2024] Review: A Hollow Remake!

After having a Blu-ray copy of The Crow (1994) in my house for over a decade, it finally came time to watch it in preparation for the reboot. The Crow has titular 90s flair and grunge that inspired so many fans of the comics to bask in its atmosphere and fall in love with its lead Brandon Lee. Thirty years later, it still possesses a rare balance between pain and love that allows its audience to have conflicting feelings throughout and make them feel deeply from scene to scene.

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A reboot of the 90s classic warranting intrigue, with interest in how they would adapt the story to not only fit modern times but maintain its edge and nostalgic feel. With Bill Skarsgård, most recently known for his terrifying performance as Pennywise the Clown in the latest IT franchise, as Eric Draven it seemed the film had firm legs to stand on. With immense pressure on its success, The Crow (2024) sadly missed the mark on its execution and edge that made the original so appealing.

It becomes evident from the beginning that The Crow strived to bring the character of Shelly (FKA Twigs) closer to its audience by telling the story of how her and Eric met at a rehab facility. After creating a bond with one another, leading to their eventual murder by a new villain, Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston), Eric is resurrected to avenge his and Shelley’s death, in the hopes of bringing them back to life.

The Crow has some decent ideas brought forward but they end up collapsing in on themselves because of its script choices. During the film Eric begins to doubt his love for Shelley upon learning about her past, causing him to develop mortality after being immortal.

This opens up a possible conversation about the “love” that addicts often find in recovery with another person, to only be a false sense of feelings brought on by shared struggles. However, this idea never fully develops and instead reinforces the original’s bond of love that is too strong to die. It was an odd script choice to welcome this new addition to the film and then disregard a fresh direction to take.

The film feels immensely hollow and lacks any soul between its leads or their bond. The story of The Crow depends on the pain and devastation felt when a loved one is taken away too soon, especially in a violent nature. With every kill there is also heartache that no amount of revenge will ever bring them back.

The reboot not only fails to capture these many emotions cinematically, but it opts for script choices that make it more of a straightforward revenge film that feels soulless. There is some quick editing that mirrors Dov Hoenig’s work from the original and a modern makeup design that looks great on screen but Skarsgård is unfortunately not able to bring to life this modern version of Eric Draven.

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The film appears to go through its own identity crisis that feels like a dark drama and then becomes a John Wick type “shoot em’ up” film that clearly goes for dramatic and gory kills to mask its unremarkable direction. For a film that from the beginning clearly showed it was taking a different approach to its story, it should have maintained its own passion for the material even through its differences. By the end of the film, so little is felt towards any aspects that it becomes so forgettable that it will without a doubt disappear into the cinematic abyss, unable to be resurrected.

‘The Crow (2024)’ Rating – 2/5

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