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His girlfriend was murdered. He rose from the dead to take revenge. When Alex Proyas adapted James O’Barr’s The Crow comic 30 years ago, he needed nothing more than these two sentences. The impressiveness of the archetypal story of love beyond the grave lay in the Gothic-Expressionist visual styling, the soulful performance of Brandon Lee in the lead role and the soundtrack, which also served as a guide to 90s alternative rock.
One of the first darker comic book films became a cult even as a result of two real-life tragedies. O’Barr was inspired to write by the death of his fiancée, who was swept off the road by a drunk driver. During filming, Brandon Lee was fatally shot due to inconsistent handling of the mock-up revolver. Proyas’ film pays tribute to both deceased. The three following sequels from 1996, 2000 and 2005 were more of an insult. Both the legacy of the shot actor and the fans who came to the cinema.
Therefore, studio bosses tread carefully around the Vrána reboot. The project, which has been in the works since 2008, has changed the screenwriter, director and cast several times. Nick Cave, Kristen Stewart or Jason Momoa were supposed to take on various tasks in front of and behind the camera over the years. In the end, the studio bet on safety. Englishman Rupert Sanders, after his previous films Snow White and the Huntsman and Ghost in the Shell, could be expected not to surprise or offend. He accomplished both.
If the first Crow was a reflection of the disillusionment and senselessness felt by Generation X in the 90s, the current film is a soulless and incoherent product that expresses the “spirit of the times” at most by trying to milk a well-known brand.
From the exposition, which takes up a good third of the emotionally endless film, it is clear that Sanders has chosen a less straightforward path than Proyas. He went straight to the point. The original Crow opens with the brutal murder of young lovers, Eric and Shelly. Only brief flashbacks remind us of their relationship. Even from the pain and hopelessness of the main character, it is evident how strong the bond was between them. The new adaptation knows nothing like clever shortcuts. Like other contemporary blockbusters, it suffers from the need to explain. Long, cumbersome, sometimes using a didactic voiceover.
Check out pictures from the set and from the movie The Crow:
Foto: Vertical Entertainment
Before Eric and I experience the agony of losing a loved one and the fickle satisfaction of revenge, we’ll have to go through how it all began. The first meeting of the central couple takes place in a hospital. Shelly (singer FKA twigs) is hiding there from the head of a mysterious organization, a villain without charisma and clear motivation Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston). Despite being a man with unlimited power who can subjugate anyone by whispering a few diabolical words, the incriminating video on Shelly’s cell phone keeps him from sleeping soundly.
Eric (Bill Skarsgård) is in the same hospital dealing with childhood traumas that included an alcoholic mother and a white horse entangled in barbed wire. The two screaming heroes catch each other’s eye and escape from the institution with surprising ease to the sounds of the song Disorder by Joy Division, which, like the other songs used, deserves a better film. Then they can think of nothing better than to hide in the center of the city, in the posh apartment of Shelly’s friend.
One would have more understanding for their not-so-clairvoyant actions if they were somewhat likable and believable. However, both Eric and Shelly are pretty, empty containers whose characters the script uses six-note lines and clichés. Eric is said to be “beautifully broken” and Shelly is reading Rimbaud. That’s pretty much all we learn about them in the first 40 minutes. Then they are murdered, Eric finds himself in pre-hell (aka the Žižkov Freight Station), and the stagnant plot begins to drowsily crawl towards a goal summed up by the order “Kill them all”.
It is meritorious that the creators decided to devote more space to the characters. Unfortunately, they could not fill it meaningfully. Throughout, Eric and Shelly have as sterile a chemistry as two people who just met in a doctor’s waiting room. Even during erotic scenes filmed as an advertisement for a brand perfume. If Eric hadn’t kept repeating that he loved Shelly, we wouldn’t know why he was going through hell to save her soul.
Deep, fateful love, which should be the emotional core of the film and the driving force behind the action, sounds like an impulsive relationship between two unstable individuals who would not last more than two weeks together. The uninterestingness of the characters is completed by the one-dimensional acting of FKA twigs and Bill Skarsgård. His transformation from an anemic user of various addictive substances to a fearless angel of vengeance is evident just by the fact that he throws on a leather coat and starts smashing people’s skulls.
Even in other respects, the Crow cannot get below the surface. And again – it wouldn’t matter if Sanders and his staff could extract some atmosphere from those surfaces. Although the film will delight the Czech audience with its imaginative use of various locations in Prague, the Pařížská, the New Stage of the National Theater or the Rudolfinum, it lacks a uniform visual identity. They are just nicely lit but generic images, interchangeable with any music video.
The aforementioned Rudolfinum played the role of an opera house in Vrána. The only segment of the film takes place there that won’t leave your head as soon as you finish the popcorn. While Eric transforms into a neo-gothic John Wick and slices his enemies with a katana, the opera Robert the Devil is staged in the hall. It’s an unnecessarily long and violent scene – as if the amount of blood and brutality should make the film adult – but at the same time so over the top that it’s funny.
It’s a shame that Vrána doesn’t reach similarly absurd heights more often. On the contrary, it remains so down to earth that it cannot really be described as a disappointment. Hard to fail where there was no ambition. It’s not true that Rupert Sanders made the worst film of the year, as the first foreign reviews feared. He’s done something worse. A movie that is subpar and forgettable in almost every way.
Movie: The Crow (2024)
The Crow, Action / Crime / Fantasy, USA, 2024, 110 min
Artwork: James O’Barr (comic)
Screenplay: Zach Baylin, William Josef Schneider
Cast: Bill Skarsgård, FKA twigs, Danny Huston, Josette Simon, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, Karel Dobrý, Jordan Bolger, David Bowles, Isabella Wei, Jordan Haj
