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The Crow (2024)

The Crow is the 100th visit to the cinema since I started keeping track at the beginning of 2016 and the 29th film I have seen this year so a record breaking moment. This is a remake of the 1994 film of the same name which I watched for the first time a few days ago which was famous really for the death of its lead Brandon Lee. I suppose it was inevitable that they would try and give the film another chance. This time it’s Bill Skarsgård who plays Eric and FKA Twigs plays Shelley. The plot is that Eric and Shelley are killed by hired thugs (hired by Danny Huston’s Vincent) and he comes back from the dead to exact revenge on those responsible.

GOOD POINTS

CENTRAL PERFORMANCES
Skarsgård and FKA were quite good individually and worked well together. Danny Huston is really good at playing a villain. He doesn't seem to be trying too hard to come across as such a scumbag but he somehow manages it.

MOTIVATION OF THE CROW
The motivation of the crow is good because they spent a good amount of time making us care and because they work well together you understand why Eric wants to do what he does and why he trades his life for Shelley’s when he loses faith in Shelley

BLOOD AND GUTS
The film doesn’t look away from the blood and violence and one of the main things that this version of the film has over the 1994 version.. There is plenty of both with one shot of the crow pushing in his intestine. The action at the opera was by far the best part of the film because it is where Eric gets to show off his newly acquired skills and it does make all the disposable baddies look like idiots because they keep shooting at him and yet he comes back at them.

BAD POINTS VISUALLY ALL OVER THE PLACE
One of the main issues that I have with this film is that it doesn't seem to know what sort of film it wants to be. It takes little time for the Blade Runner vibe to come into this film. I say that because of how dark things are and also because of the rain. I don’t remember the last time I saw that much rain in a film. Yes it is atmospheric but I just think that it gets distracting after a while. The film never seems to go fully in on this and set it in the far future and have futuristic technology and graphics. They push the Blade Runner vibe enough for it to be noticed but not enough that it feels like what they intended.

MOTIVATION OF THE VILLAIN IS FUZZY
The main motivation for the villain is that FKA had a video on her phone that Vincent doesn’t want anyone to see because…..reasons. Unless I missed something then there is the bare minimum of plot motivation. I can only assume it's because he is an important figure and he doesn't want people to know the truth. The thing is that it's never really explained why he would be considered important and because no scene is created to explain why he should be feared apart from the fact he can manipulate people into killing themselves.

THE FINAL BATTLE DOESN'T HAVE THE WOW FACTOR
Normally the final battle should be epic and feel important but in this film it's over very quickly and its not really because of anything that Eric has done that defeats Vincent. It’s the creatures in the water that end up consuming him into the water and so Eric has managed to defeat Vincent but not really doing much. Eric does more damage in the Opera fight.

LACKS ANY SENSE OF IDENTITY
Despite my feeling that the 1994 version is overhyped, at least the film had an identity and it works to the film's benefit. The film seems to want to be a bit of Blade Runner, a bit of John Wick and it never seems to come together.

OVERALL
I wasn't expecting too much when I sat down at the cinema but I think that it's perhaps the most average film that I can recall seeing at the cinema and will probably go so far as to say that it is the worst film I have seen this year at the cinema. It’s not the worst film ever made but the worst I have seen this year and its probably worth waiting for it to come out on streaming in a couple of months.


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Location: Dudley, UK

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