Sawyer Long

“The Crow,” a movie which opened in theaters on Aug. 23, has been released more than 30 years after the original. And, in my opinion, it also was significantly worse in almost every way.

“The Crow,” a movie which opened in theaters on Aug. 23, has been released more than 30 years after the original. And, in my opinion, it also was significantly worse in almost every way.

It follows Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven, who is killed by a crime organization but is allowed the chance to come back to life to avenge himself, as well as save the soul of his soulmate. The film’s release and production is controversial, due to the tragic events that occurred during the production of the 1994 film. Unfortunately, on March 31, 1993, Brandon Lee (who played Draven) was injured in an accident involving a prop gun while filming the original movie. He did not survive. It is worth noting, however, that both movies are adapted from a popular graphic novel. With a reboot like this, there are several questions that need to be asked. Is the movie well made? Does it honor the original? Surpass it? While watching this film, the answer to all of these questions were the same to me: no.

There are several reasons why I thought the film was not worth watching. First, it is not better than the original. In the older film, Brandon Lee’s portrayal of Eric Draven is something that Skarsgård’s really missed the mark on: cool. Lee was dropping one-liners, laughing and all around creating a character who had both personality and an eerie feel. Skarsgård’s version, however, is entirely humorless. Although I understand the directors trying to make the movie more serious, this choice actually makes them seem like they were trying too hard. Throughout, today’s Draven seems like an unrelatable, stale character with no depth or interesting traits. In this way, I do not believe that the movie needed to be re-made, especially with the controversy that comes from making it after Lee’s death.

I do not blame Skarsgård for the poor quality of his performance, but instead, I blame the casting directors. The actors behind Draven and his girlfriend, Shelley, lack any sort of actual chemistry between each other. The movie attempts to convince the audience that they are in love by showing them doing things that couples do, and it is mentioned excessively by both characters how much they love each other. And yet it is still very hard to believe and almost annoying when the pair have such an absence of chemistry.

The weak characterization of the main characters is certainly not where the movie’s flaws end. Much like the writing of the main character, the plot and pacing of the film is equally poor. I honestly believe that the first 40 minutes of the movie, before Draven dies, could be removed to make the film better. I was shocked, after watching, to check the runtime and see that it was under two hours, including credits. Within the first hour, I was more excited for the end than I was to see what happened next. Even the scenes where Draven actually gets a chance to fight or adjust to being undead, though fun, are unengaging because it is established almost immediately after he returns to life that he is essentially invincible. “Boring” is an understatement to describe every non-action scene (about 90%) of the movie.

However, the action scenes themselves, if you can look past the lack of stakes and an uninteresting plot, are “The Crow”’s only saving grace. The stunts, effects and sound design in these regretfully scarce scenes are phenomenal. They have even more hyperviolence than the original (so, if graphic scenes are not for you, the action is not either). Every blow that a character, whether it be a main character or an extra, is felt, and it was truly a shock to see shoved into such a non-notable movie. I imagine that these sequences took up a very large portion of the film’s budget (which was $40 million more than what it has made in theaters), because absolutely nothing else in it is on par. Even the effects outside of these scenes, such as CGI birds, look cheap and low quality.

With all this considered, do I recommend that you pay for a ticket to watch “The Crow”? The answer is definitely no. Even if there were a way to watch the movie free of charge, it is just as much a waste of time as it is a waste of money. The absolute most attention I would advise someone to give it is watching a few clips online when it comes to home video and streaming. Other than that, there is no reason to view it.