THE CROW Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Rupert Sanders
Stars: Bill Skarsgard, FKA Twigs, Danny Huston, Sami Bouajila, Laura Birn, Isabella Wei, Josette Simon.
An ugly mix of gothic superhero movie, love story and revenge drama with supernatural undertones, this is a pointless, unnecessary, dark and gratuitously violent reboot of Alex Proyas’ 1994 film The Crow. That film was, unfortunately, most notable for the tragic on-set death of its star Brandon Lee, which overshadowed the film’s release in the cinema. Like that film and its inferior 1996 sequel The Crow: City Of Angels, this remake is based on the graphic comic book series written by James O’Barr. The film has been written by Zach Bayliss (Creed III, etc) and first-time feature writer William Schneider, but the script is disjointed and almost incoherent and shows signs of numerous rewrites. The troubled production has also undergone numerous changes in personnel since it was first written in 2008.
This new version of The Crow stars Bill Skarsgard (from It, etc), who recently racked up a huge body count in the very violent Boy Kills World. Here Skarsgard plays a character named Eric Draven, who was emotionally scarred by a childhood trauma. He has grown into a troubled adult, heavily tattooed and addicted to drugs. During a period of rehabilitation in the Serenity Park Recovery Centre, which resembles a prison with its harsh environment, Eric meets the equally troubled young woman Shelly (British singer and actor FKA Twigs, from Honey Boy, etc). She is trying to hide away from the rich and powerful but evil crime lord Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston, in a familiar villainous role).
Roeg has been granted the gift of immortality due to a deal he made with the devil and he has the ability to whisper malevolent words into his victims, thus driving them to commit crimes and take their own life. When a video emerges of his involvement in a nasty murder, Shelly’s friend Zade (Isabella Wei, in her film debut) is killed by Roeg. When Roeg’s right-hand woman and enabler Marian (Finnish actress Laura Birn, from Any Day Now, etc) arrives at the rehab centre, Eric and Shelly manage to escape and find temporary sanctuary in a vacant apartment in the city. But they are eventually tracked down by Roeg’s henchmen. Both are killed but Eric finds himself in some sort of netherworld between life and death.
Eric is told by the mysterious and sinister Kronos (Sami Bouajila, from A Son, etc), who acts as some sort of spirit guide to the netherworld between heaven and hell, that he has some unfinished business in the real world. In order to be reunited with Shelly, he has to kill Roeg. Granted supernatural powers, Eric embarks on a mission to avenge her death, which leads eventually to a bloody and violent showdown in which, armed with a samurai sword, he takes on a small army of Roeg’s henchmen inside a lavish opera house. This climactic encounter explodes into an orgy of carnage, but the stomach-churning level of violence and gore is totally unbelievable.
The direction from Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Huntsman, etc) is occasionally stylish, but his handling of the material lacks any real sense of urgency or impetus and the pace drags especially in the first hour or so. Sanders orchestrates a bloodbath with a huge body count during the climactic showdown. And for much of the time the film is visually quite ugly as cinematographer Steve Annis (Color Out Of Space, etc) uses dark and moody lighting to shoot the nocturnal and rain drenched settings. Production designer Robin Brown creates a suitably dirty and grungy environment which contributes to the film’s grim aesthetic and visual style. Volker Bertelmann’s bombastic score also adds to the overall mood of the material.
Skarsgard brings a brooding quality to his performance here and he acquits himself well with the physical demands. However, there is absolutely no chemistry between him and co-star Twigs and their great passionate romance doesn’t ring true. Huston plays yet another variation of his stereotyped villain and is wasted and not really given much to do. Birn brings a chilly quality to her role.
Ultimately this reimagining of The Crow is a bland, unimaginative and deeply flawed film that will not win over fans of the original film.
★★
