THE CROW

US, 2024, 111 minutes, Colour.

Bill Skarsgaard, FKA twigs, Danny Huston, Joette Simon, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, Jordan Bolger.

Directed by Rupert Sanders.

The Crow is based on comic novels by James O’ Barr. The first film, in 1993, made quite an impact in the era before the success of the Marvel Universe and its glamorous superheroes. Eric Draven, guided by a Crow, is a very dark comic book hero. (And the film had some notoriety because of the accidental death of its star, Brandon Lee, during production). 1996 to 2005 there were three sequels, much less successful than the original. There was also a television series.

The present film has been in production discussion since 2008. It was finally directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman, Ghost in the Shell). And, for the new incarnation of Eric, Bill Skarsgaard (sinister as Pennywise in the two It films, villain in John Wick 4). All was set for a revival of the franchise – but this film was not well received.

For audiences who have been following the franchise with enthusiasm, they will probably be in favour of this version. However, for the ordinary audience, there will be need to express a word of caution. In an official synopsis of the plot, the word to describe many of the deaths throughout The Crow is “savage”. As we watch so many of the killings of Eric’s enemies, swords and knives, guns and physical attacks, “savage” seems something of an understatement. They are particularly graphic, some visually brutal, alarming, and many audiences they will feel they want to turn away.

With this caution, it can be said that James O’ Barr as created quite an intriguingly dark mythology, a young addict in rehabilitation (where all the inmates where pink tracksuits! A bit of colour in the dark film) meets a young woman on the run from psychotic criminals who finds it safer to be in jail. They bond. They escape. They fall in love. They are tracked down – and murdered.

And here is the intriguing aspect. Eric comes to life again, in a strange purgatorial railyard, encounters Kronos, who enables him to go through experiences of death, violent assault deaths, but self-heal, not die. He has the task to rescue his fiancee from hell. He is commissioned to wreak revenge on the sinister villain, played in gentlemanly but slice style by Danny Huston, a man who has sold his soul to the devil long since, surviving by killing people, whispering in their ear to control them to self-destruction.

A revenge quest, a challenge to audience sympathies about Eric (with Bill  Skarsgaard looking particularly young, too young? Even though he is in his early 30s). The violent culmination takes place during an Opera, the violence being operatically violent.

While this film contributes to the legend of The Crow and an alternative hero to the glamorous superheroes, it reminds us that we live in a violent era.

1. 21^st-century version of the comic book character? The popularity of the books? The Brandon Lee film version and the accident? The sequels and the impact? The television series?
2. The basic plot, Eric, his fiancee, death, not dying, the revenge pursuit of the criminals, the supernatural elements? A new interpretation?
3. The opening, Eric with the horse, the barbed wire, wanting to save it, the injuries to his hand? These images recurring later? His growing up, drug addiction, arrested, imprisoned? Life in prison, everybody wearing pink tracksuits? The discipline, the training, the sessions?
4. Shelley, friends with Zadie, the video, compromising, Roeg and his determination, Marion as his assistant? Capturing Zadie, whispering in her ear, her death? Shelley pursued, the police, safer in prison than out? In prison, the encounters with Eric, friendship, dependence, the escape, setting up house, falling in love? Safety? But Roeg pursuing, Eric having seen Marion and Sophia in the prison? The irony of Shelley being Sophia’s daughter?
5. The pursuit, Roeg and the dangers, capturing the couple, their deaths?
6. Eric, age, looking young, the tattoos, waking up, the encounter with Kronos in the railyard, explaining his situation, Shelley and her being lost forever, the possibility of redemption, Eric and never dying but experiencing the pain of death and injury, the guidance of the symbolic Crow, the mission of revenge?
7. Eric, his new situation, the friendship with Chance, the thugs catching up killing Chance?
8. Eric, the confrontations, the deaths, his not dying, self-healing? The cumulative effect of the revenge theme, so many deaths, the brutality, the variations of weapons, numbers of death? The effect on Eric?
9. Learning about the video, Shelley and the killing, losing faith in her, Kronos warning Eric?
10. The interview with Sophia, Roeg and his promises, choosing her lifestyle over her daughter? Roeg whispering, her death?
11. The buildup to the opera sequence, the performance of the Opera, the audience, Marion and her associate in the box, the phone calls to Roeg? The operatic nature of the revenge, Eric as an operatic figure, the succession of deaths intercut with the opera, Marion and her warning?
12. The buildup to the confrontation with Roeg, his self-confidence, the back story of doing the deal with the devil, living on but killing people? Marion and her death? Her head? The final defeat of Roeg?
13. And the possibility for future life and death experiences for Eric?