THE CROW. A Grotesque Revenge Film [REVIEW]

Revenge is one of the most frequently used motifs in global culture, one that has been employed by the greatest poets, music creators, filmmakers, and even painters throughout the centuries. Both for artists and for the audience, the theme of vengeance has been, is, and will be an incredibly attractive and at times cathartic motif. These characteristics of the revenge motif are also evident in James O’Barr’s famous comic series “The Crow”, which expressed the author’s despair after the tragic death of his beloved and, in turn, inspired the creation of Alex Proyas’ cult 1994 film, its three unsuccessful sequels, a Canadian TV series, and the production reviewed below, which is currently showing on movie screens.

Rupert Sanders’ “The Crow” focuses on Eric Draven (Bill Skarsgård), who, along with his beloved Shelley (FKA Twigs), falls victim to a brutal murder. On the brink of the afterlife, Eric receives an offer he cannot refuse. Immortal and guided by the ruler of the dead – a crow – he still has a chance to snatch Shelley from the clutches of death. All he has to do is keep his love for her unwavering and exact bloody revenge on all their tormentors. Thus begins Eric’s journey through the world of the living and the dead.

The above description of the newest interpretation of “The Crow” is nothing but an empty promise. The essence and meaning of O’Barr’s comics and Proyas’ cult adaptation lie in the boundless rage and grief that fill the main character. This rage and grief not only justify his violence against his oppressors but also serve as an exploration of his loss and trauma. Rupert Sanders and the screenwriters of the new “Crow” clearly didn’t understand this, as instead of using the revenge motif to focus on the pain of losing a loved one and the ways to overcome it, they create a grotesque story about practically nothing. Okay, I’ll try to be fair. Perhaps the film by the creator of “Snow White and the Huntsman” could ultimately be interpreted as a story about sacrifice, but this is so clumsily executed and hidden beneath layers of narrative oddities that it’s truly hard to believe in its sacrificial nature.

Another mistake in the latest “Crow” is the attempt to depict the origins of both the main character and his love with Shelley. This entire process takes about 40 minutes of Sanders’ film, yet the viewer still gets the impression that the only thing connecting the two is sadness, reading Rimbaud’s works (where did this idea even come from?), and a penchant for drugs and tattoos. This part of the film is certainly not helped by FKA Twigs, who, although she may be a decent singer, is not necessarily a good actress. Her Shelley is flat, making her death barely impactful. However, Twigs is not the biggest problem here. The issue lies in the fact that after 40 minutes of love frolics, Eric and Shelley could have been killed by random thugs, and it wouldn’t significantly impact the course of the story. Sanders’ “Crow” villain, a certain Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston), provokes laughter instead of fear, even though he’s been armed with whispering – excuse me – satanic powers.

And believe it or not, when it finally comes time for Eric’s resurrection and the long-awaited revenge, things get even worse. We are then faced with a true mess of a screenplay. The film jumps between a clumsy crime story, an unconvincing melodrama, and graceless action sequences. The greatest disappointment in all of this is Bill Skarsgård, who has proven time and again that he can extract 110% of the potential from the characters he plays. Under Sanders’ direction, even if he were to act at 200%, he would still be remembered as a sad guy dressed up like Jared Leto’s Joker.

I’m not one of those who believe Proyas’ “The Crow” is a flawless film. It’s rather a movie that became a legend for obvious, unfortunate reasons, a film that is characterized by an extraordinary atmosphere and, above all, style. I’m writing this because I thought I’d see at least a bit of that specific aesthetic sensitivity in Sanders’ “Crow”. I didn’t. Sanders had his own modernized vision of the production. “The Crow A.D. 2024” is steeped in an emo aesthetic, but not the rebellious kind – rather the filtered, photoshopped kind, straight from the covers of trendy magazines.

I understand that the latest “Crow” took some 15 years to make, with its directors, cinematographers, and actors changing from time to time. Nevertheless, at some point, this project should have simply been abandoned rather than served to the audience as a blend of several films, without flavor, style, or meaning, all while hoping that this crow (pun intended) of a revenge flick would somehow pay off.