by Jacob Cameron

The Crow is a remake of the outstanding film of the same name directed by Alex Proyas and released in 1994.  Remakes tend to get automatically devalued and cast aside.  However, there have been remakes that have been equal to or better than the original film.  2024’s The Crow is not one of them.  It may very well be one of the worst films of the year.

The film stars Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs, and Danny Huston.  It was directed by Rupert Sanders whose credits include Snow White & The Huntsman from 2012 and another remake in 2017’s Ghost in the Shell.  It tells the story of Eric, played by Skarsgård, who meets a mysterious woman named Shelly while the two are in rehab.  A whirlwind romance ensues; which culminates in the two being attacked and murdered at the hands of agents working for the Roeg Corporation.  Eric’s soul is returned to the earth to avenge both his and Shelly’s souls.

This film has been getting ravaged by critics.  The 1994 film is a classic for many reasons; a remake would already be at a disadvantage.  But this is a film that was seemingly destined to be a resident of development hell until the end of time.  Jason Momoa and Tom Hardy are slated to be a part of the film at one point or another.  It’s very easy to mock a film like this.  It is, however, as bad as has been advertised.  This is a revenge thriller with laughable contrivances and The Crow’s name attached for marketing purposes.

Bill Skarsgård is a talented actor.  His roles as Pennywise in It Chapters 1 & 2 and Marquis in John Wick: Chapter 4 prove his acting chops.  But his version of Eric Draven is just plain uninteresting; he’s not even called Eric Draven, just Eric.  He doesn’t become the proper Crow until about an hour and 20 minutes into this hour and 51-minute film.  The rest of the time he plays an insecure goth guy who has copied his fashion sense, Post Malone and Marilyn Manson.  There is some implication of a troubled childhood near the beginning and end of the film, but an implication is all that is given.

FKA Twigs is the most interesting part of the film by a significant margin.  The movie should have been about her character.  The entire reason why the Roeg Organization goes after her and Eric is because she has a video exposing the head of Roeg using his powers for evil.  Her character has a mom who is famous for reasons never explained.  There could have been more of her backstory explained but nothing is ever truly explained.

Danny Huston’s character is a very generic villain with powers to influence people to do bad things to themselves or others.  The only remote explanation for this given by the film is that he made a deal with the devil for eternal life.  Is he the devil?  Is he one of the devil’s disciples?  It is never made clear.  

The biggest crime that this movie commits is that it bends over backward to be The Crow when it feels like The Crow if it was made by AI.  There are attempts made to explain the lore of The Crow and over-complicate the plot.  Where in the original film, the lore of The Crow and Eric Draven becomes The Crow in the first 15 minutes.  The criminals in the remake are represented by an evil corporation whose CEO allegedly made a deal with the devil.  While in the original film, the criminals are a part of a street gang.  It is unfortunately the case that 2024’s The Crow is not just a bad remake but a bad film in general. 

1/2 star