James O’Barr’s The Crow graphic novel is one of the most celebrated graphic novels of all time. It tells the story of one Eric Draven who was murdered along with his girlfriend. Eric is brought back to life by a mysterious crow to take revenge on the people that killed him. But it was the first live-action adaptation which really brought attention to the IP. Directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee, the original movie was widely celebrated by fans around the world for its gothic atmosphere, tragic love story, and a powerful soundtrack. At its core, The Crow was a love story between Eric Draven and his girlfriend, Shelly Webster. Even in death, that love pushed Eric to punish the people who killed them. It had great action, memorable characters and villains, but there was a really solid emotional core to the film that drove the story forward. Unfortunately, the film’s star Brandon Lee, was tragically killed during the making of the film when a gun misfired. With a few camera tricks and some CGI, the film-makers managed to finish the movie and release it. For a 23 million dollar budget, the movie made about 94 million dollars. It was a sleeper hit. The question remains whether or not the film would be as memorable if Lee hadn’t died. It’s hard to say. But the movie did well enough to spawn multiple sequels, some video games, and a remake that has seen its share of problems getting made.
The story of the remake of The Crow is as troubled as the original movie, leading some people to think that the franchise is cursed. The remake has gone through multiple directors and multiple actors including Luke Evans and Jason Momoa. Nobody was thinking this going to happen or should happen. The director of the original film, Alex Proyas, has come out on multiple occasions slamming the idea of a remake. In 2020, the film seemed to have found its footing as the project got back on track and brought Bill Skarsgard on board as Eric Draven, with Rupert Sanders directing. Earlier this year, we got a few images of Bill as Draven…and I was NOT impressed:
Well, as of this writing, the first trailer for the movie dropped…and again, I’m not impressed. Maybe it’s because of my love of the original film that’s getting in the way of my potential enjoyment of the movie. I’m still going to check this out, because Bill Skarsgard is a really good actor from an extremely talented family. The original movie was peppered with memorable characters and great actors. The only other actor in this movie that I recognize is Danny Huston. I don’t know if he’s going to be playing Top Dollar, the Michael Wincott character from the original film, but he doesn’t strike me as threatening. The movie’s looks brutally violent, so I’m glad they’re not pulling any punches, but I don’t really like the look of the world. I definitely don’t like the look of Eric Draven in this one. It has been 30 years since the original movie came out, so I wasn’t expecting it to have the same kind of dark gothic look, but this has “generic” written all over it. It has often been said that one should never judge a book by its cover, so I’m willing to give the film a shot. I might enjoy it. Maybe a second trailer will make me more excited. The movie’s expected to be released on June 7 of this year. Check out the trailer and judge for yourselves.