3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): The Crow

2024, Rupert Sanders (Ghost in the Shell) -- download

Also known as "Bill Kills: Vol 2".

We are devotees of the original movie. I never commented on such in the actual rewatch writeup, as I have probably droned on about it referentially in posts on other movies. We were fans of the comic, fans of goth culture and only mildly annoyed they turned a goth icon (Robert Smith hair) into a Hawaiian shirt wearing middling rock star. The following movies, and the TV show (which, until I thought about it, I had blocked from my mind as existing) were terrible.

This reboot entirely excuses itself from any of the source material beyond the vibes. But to be honest, I didn't mind it, the movie or the departure from the source, that much. Maybe I am a Sanders apologist? I actually now kind of enjoy The Ghost in the Shell and was always a fan of his Snow White and the Huntsmen movie adding it quickly to the shelf. OK, so not so much apologist when that's it, that's all of his catalogue.

But its an OK movie, if a little reserved for my taste.

The central idea of The Crow (all of em) is that a counter-culture couple, truly madly deeply in love are murdered by criminal low lifes, and Eric Draven's love for Shelly is so fucking strong he is brought back from The Afterlife to avenge her death. He then gets to hunt down and shoot & slice his way through all the Bad Guys in an almost gleeful, maniacal manner, accentuated by the drama mask makeup he wears.

In this movie Eric (Bill Skarsgård, Deadpool 2) and Shelley (FKA Twigs, Brighton Beach) meet in some sort of state enforced recovery program. Shelley already has a dangerous past and is hiding out from some sort of ... demon or man who made a deal with The Devil (Danny Huston, 30 Days of Night). Apparently her friends and her were mixed up with a charismatic wealthy individual who actually had some demonic ties, giving him immortality in exchange for the souls of the innocent. 

That trope always bothers me. If the demon uses some sort of supernatural power to influence people into committing heinous acts, then is it really the innocent giving up their innocence? All demons should seduce you into making the choice yourself.

Eric's a kid from a terrible background, physical and psychological abuse. Shelly comes from wealth and privilege but was sold to the demon by her mother. Both of them ascribe to a counter-culture youth that doesn't choose any well defined labels. Back then (old man voice) they would be Goth or Punk or Raver Kid or Metal but whether its my lack of exposure to the constantly changing labels of what pop-culture calls kids these days or, as I view it, there are no lines, no distinctions of what make Eric and Shelly different from other kids, other than a desire to be free. Eric is covered in tattoos, the classic current collection of body, neck, face ink you see on the pop stars. Shelly, less so, more about her music and clothes. They are merely kids that guys my ages wouldn't understand and dismiss.

The thing is that I don't see this Great Love that is supposed to fuel Eric's vengeance. I mean, almost immediately he loses faith in her. Maybe the movie didn't give enough time, maybe it needed to add more pathos, more pain to what they had together, but while it wasn't as bad as "I just met you but I love you" it just didn't carry as much weight as it should.

And therefore, Eric just doesn't seem... angry enough, mad enough. He is presented as a mild-mannered kid, and initially I had hoped this calm, almost demure manner that Eric carried with him through the "living" stage of the movie was so the switch could be seen as drastic, but really, no it wasn't. Once dead, once undead he is not so angry, not mad, not gleeful at all; he is just driven, like a less passionate John Wick.

In watching the movie, I wasn't all that bothered by it. It has a vibe (yeah, yeah) that I got into, that trope of being shot in Europe (Prague and the Czech Republic), but still trying to tell us it is set in the US, just not naming the location. That lends an air of old, and stale, and full of history that upstate NY could not have provided. Unfortunately the movie doesn't really embrace it, doesn't really delve into the locale. Think the recent The Batman movie and how the depiction of Gotham is as much a character as the vigilante himself, the steel and stone, gargoyles and filthy streets. This movie chose the European locales it chose but never grasped them, made a true use of them. It was just fine.

And that is probably the entire failure of the movie, in that it never seemed to fully embrace what it was depicting. Eric and Shelly don't seem in love enough, Eric never seems vengeful enough, not hurt enough. If you are going to have a character portrayed as soft spoken and gentle, despite his ripped body, face tattoos and gaunt, skeletal frame, then when he comes back from the dead, he should EXPLODE with fury. The fight scenes were bloody & gruesome but they should have been more than that. The movie could have been so much more than this.