Greetings again from the darkness. It’s been thirty years since Alex Proyas directed THE CROW (1994). Unfortunately, the cult favorite is forever remembered as being the set on which lead actor Brandon Lee (son of the legendary Bruce Lee) died an accidental and tragic death. Along the way, there have been lesser sequels. There have also been so many rumors of a re-boot over the last fifteen years, that I remained a bit doubtful until the opening credits actually began to roll.
Director Rupert Sanders (GHOST IN THE SHELL, 2017) and co-writers Zach Baylin (KING RICHARD, 2021) and William Josef Schneider have avoided the “remake” label, while offering their version of the comic book series from James O’Barr. Bill Skarsgard (Pennywise in the IT movies) and pop star FKA twigs (HONEY BOY, 2019) play Eric and Shelly, the star-crossed lovers who meet at (and escape) drug rehab. Their freedom initially leads to some smooching and giggling and a shared bathtub and bed. Of course, things change for the doomed lovers quickly when she is reminded that some really bad people who work for a really bad man are trying to kill her.
The villain is played by the always-dependable Danny Huston, who has mastered reserved on-screen evil. His billionaire supernatural demon dude puts a hit out on Shelly because of an incriminating cell phone video. When his henchmen succeed in killing Shelly and Eric, the latter finds himself in purgatory learning lessons from Kronos (Sami Bouajila). It turns out the crow will guide Eric to put the wrong things right … which means brining Shelly back to life.
Eric’s afterlife revenge mission takes up most of the film, and violence is around every corner. You should know he is basically invincible, although he does feel pain. So those many bullet holes need to heal as quickly as possible. Eric goes goth (similar to what Brandon Lee did) and sports a black duster that would make Wyatt Earp and Blade envious. A beautiful Opera House serves as the setting for a John Wick-esque parade of violence and bodies … all synchronized to the stage production. We never really know why there are so many henchmen at the opera, but it allows the bullets to fly, the sword to swing, and the blood to flow.
The film clearly falls way short of a Marvel budget, but filming in Prague brings an element of interest with some previously unseen locales – a real plus for the film. It’s a gothic love story of revenge from beyond the grave, so the dark nature of the material is accompanied by some of the darkest lighting you’ll ever see in a movie (although not quite as much rain this time). To top it off, the crows that lead Eric are very cool. Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s a (very) messy movie, but it plays to its audience.
Opens in theaters on August 23, 2024
Posted by David Ferguson 
Movie Reviews from the Dark 