Rupert (Ghost in the Shell/Snow White and the Huntsman) Sanders' adaptation of James O'Barr's The Crow isn't as much a remake as it's a reinterpretation of a familiar mythology. Zach (Creed III) Baylin and William Schneider's script reintroduces us to the poetic, harlequin-faced Eric Draven, portrayed by Bill (It/Nosferatu/Barbarian) Skarsgard. Adhering to the gist of O'Barr's legend, Draven is murdered, along with his secret-bearing fiancé and former, rehab pal, FKA Twig's sexy Shelley Webster, by a demonic gang led by Danny (30 Days of Night/Horizon/Frankenstein 2015) Huston's Vincent Roeg, who's assisted by Laura Birn's obedient Marian.
Soon after death, Draven receives soulful help from Sami Bouajila's Kronos, a metaphysical guide, in order to rise from his watery grave and then wreck havoc for peace, forming a symbiotic tie with a mystical crow through whom he perceives. The ensuing plot then notches Eric's attacks in a domino effect, tiered by a mid-movie succession of hot-blooded phases that prevails until the last, bloody drop.
The getting-even concept isn't original, whether by O'Barr's standards or Death Wish derivatives in general, but I'm a proponent of revenge, and whether it's served cold or in a stuffy court of law, it's necessary to keep things right with the world. With this acknowledged, the fast-healing Draven doesn't only kill to purge his own demons, but his gal's, and in an allegorical way, he does this for others who might get trampled along the way. (It's an honorable concept: If one doesn't squash a foe, the foe will only hurt another. In a related manner, the movie's slogan, "It's not anger. It's love," makes sense within the saga's context, since if one loves someone, one can't help but get angry enough to do the "eye for an eye" thing.)
Since revenge is the heart of this picture, I'm happy to report that it serves such with a substantial lack of mercy, in particular during the big, opera-house sequence, where Draven goes full-blown, high octane on Roeg's thugs. It's one of those rapacious moments that smacks of a ball-busting, Clockwork Orange ballet.
Of course, none of it would work as well as it does if Skarsgard wasn't as convincing as he is. (Okay, the short hair is a bit diverting at first, but hey, one gets used to it.) Skarsgard's Draven, as with Brandon Lee's, thrives on a sense of right and wrong, and it shows in every impassioned ripple of his resurrected carcass. (It should be noted, however, that in addition to Webster's loving draw, Draven's tattoo-artist friend, Jordan Bolger's Chance, lends a nice stroke of stability to the mayhem, instilling a convincing, periodic balance between Draven's suffering and salvation.)
On the hand, villain-maestro Danny Huston is pure hate for the sake of it. It bleeds from the actor, as he displays disgust with unjust superiority. This plays in direct contrast to Skarsgard's prowling determination: a wise, thematic insertion that differentiates the extremes, even while pulling them together.
On another advantageous point, the movie looks gloriously grim, thanks to Steve Annis' plaintive photography, though not quite in the rain-swept way of the 1994 original, where slippery blacks saturate the screen. In this instance, the brooding mysticism and heated violence are more varied in their Americanized-Prague designation. In truth, if the supernatural elements were excised from Baylin's retelling, the story would still work, only more as a lurid, noir piece, but then I realize there are many who consider the 1994 adaptation (and its tangents) to be just that. Perhaps, it's all a matter of what comes around goes around in the realm of revived, dark crusaders.
Volker (All Quiet on the Western Front) Bertelmann's score is quite good, too, working as a new-wave hymn. It feels like the sort of music that Draven/the Crow would kill by.
I realize there are a fair number of folks who've already condemned this submission without even seeing it. Test groups and advance audiences who have watched it, have degraded it. So, this now makes me the big-time odd man out, I suppose, but I took the new Crow for what it is: a redesigned blueprint for a tried-and-true, retribution tale. If you feel so inclined to badger me on the point, don't be at all surprised if I tap my own Crow-ish vehemence and seek you out. As I said, I'm a proponent of revenge. 😉
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