520: The Crow

[00:00:00] 226. Let's get to The Crow from this year, the reboot, remake, whatever you want to call it. It's directed by Rupert Sanders, stars Bill Skarsgård, and I'm just going to call her Twigs in terms of the whole dispute of the FKA part of her artist name.

[00:00:22] As well as Danny Houston, Laura Byrne, and the synopsis is, Soulmates Eric Draven and Shelley Webster are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Draven returns to seek bloody revenge against the killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.

[00:00:49] Well, I remember when this one was announced and when it was first premiering, people said it was horrible, like it was offensive to do this after what happened in the original film, which I was planning on doing a franchise review of The Crow. I might do that at some point.

[00:01:08] But I figured that the middle films that are very, very lesser known, there wouldn't be that much to say about them. If you would like to see that done soon, let me know.

[00:01:20] But with the tragedy of the original film, when Brandon Lee was injured on set by this prop gun and he later died, there's been a very notorious stigma reputation around this movie, even though it's considered a classic.

[00:01:37] And it's, I think, probably the ultimate goth movie aside from a few others.

[00:01:45] And it definitely has a major cult status at this point.

[00:01:53] I like the original a lot.

[00:01:56] I don't love it, but I think it's still very unique and there's a lot of amazing things about it, despite it being very, very 90s, for better and for worse.

[00:02:07] For one, I just reviewed Rupert Sanders' last movie, Ghost in the Shell, just about a week or two ago, so you can check that out.

[00:02:15] And I am a big fan of that, and I really like Snow White and the Huntsman, so I've really enjoyed his work much more than a lot of others seem to over the years.

[00:02:26] So I was looking forward to this for a number of reasons.

[00:02:31] I like goth movies, emo movies, edgy, weird makeup, like Joker-esque sort of characters.

[00:02:38] That's just my vibe.

[00:02:39] I don't care if it's glossy and over the top.

[00:02:42] There's just something that works for me and gels for me.

[00:02:48] Hot take, maybe.

[00:02:49] I don't think it's amazing, but I don't think it's horrible either.

[00:02:53] I think of all the movies that come out nowadays that get glowing reviews,

[00:02:56] and I know I say that a lot whenever I'm defending something, but in terms of what this movie does horribly wrong, at least to the critics,

[00:03:05] I don't see why other films that do very similar things are like,

[00:03:10] this movie is amazing, it's so fun, it's so this, that, and the other.

[00:03:15] So I don't really agree with a lot of critics.

[00:03:18] I do feel like it's definitely a missed opportunity in some ways, and it's my least favorite Rupert Sanders film to date.

[00:03:31] Bill Skarsgård, great actor.

[00:03:33] I think he's very good in this.

[00:03:36] Twigs, I don't know why she was cast out of all the people you could cast.

[00:03:42] I've never really listened to her music or anything like that.

[00:03:46] I knew the name, but that's about it.

[00:03:48] I don't think she's that bad in this.

[00:03:52] She doesn't have that much to do either, but I thought that she was charming,

[00:03:57] and she and Bill Skarsgård had a good back and forth.

[00:04:03] Danny Houston, I don't know, he's someone who is a very interesting character actor,

[00:04:09] but I don't love when he goes into the supernatural horror stuff.

[00:04:16] So him being the villain, not a big fan, and I didn't even really understand that much of his power and his motivation.

[00:04:26] However, some good things.

[00:04:28] The opening, I like how they spend a good amount of time on the relationship, which that's what drives it,

[00:04:34] so that makes sense.

[00:04:35] But I think the opening in the mental institution or whatever that is, I think that's interesting.

[00:04:42] I like the look of the pink outfits.

[00:04:46] Bill Skarsgård's tattoos, his patchwork tattoos.

[00:04:49] I wish more characters had that kind of look to them.

[00:04:53] There's just something.

[00:04:54] I like tattoos.

[00:04:55] I have a lot of tattoos.

[00:04:58] The progression of that, like I bought them as a couple, which is kind of hard to do, I think, in movies,

[00:05:04] especially if there's not a lot of big names in it, and it's a fairly unknown IP.

[00:05:14] The death of Twigs or of Shelly is effective, and that revenge quest for him, it's very John Wick-esque.

[00:05:26] In the original Crow, it's cutting to flashbacks, so you're pretty much starting with the Crow as the Crow.

[00:05:35] And you're just getting little hints of, oh, he went through this tragedy, his girlfriend was killed,

[00:05:42] but you get to spend most of the movie with him as that character.

[00:05:46] So you get to know him a little more.

[00:05:48] Whereas in this, and I understand they want to do something different,

[00:05:51] so this one is very linear in how it tells everything.

[00:05:56] I just feel like you don't really get to see him as the Crow until like an hour in, if not more,

[00:06:03] and then the movie's only about an hour and 45 minutes.

[00:06:09] So while I don't usually want movies to be longer in this day and age,

[00:06:14] this movie could have used maybe a two-hour, 15-minute runtime, something like that.

[00:06:21] I like seeing him as the Crow.

[00:06:23] I like the design of the character, the undead world stuff.

[00:06:28] I like the look of that location, the makeup where he uses black tattoo ink.

[00:06:34] I thought that was awesome.

[00:06:38] The opera sequence towards the end is a definite highlight,

[00:06:42] where it's just all-out violence and brutality in him causing complete chaos and destruction in his wake.

[00:06:52] And feel free to let me know why you disliked it so much.

[00:06:56] I still was compelled by the movie.

[00:06:58] I was never really bored.

[00:07:01] It's his least visually interesting of the three so far.

[00:07:06] I think it still looks good, and I don't mind the overall color palette.

[00:07:10] And there's still a lot of shots that look awesome, like very Rupert Sanders.

[00:07:14] He just has a very good eye for dark, bold visuals.

[00:07:22] There's just not enough of that variety that he usually has to make me overlook some of the story issues that he has more often than not.

[00:07:32] Like Ghost in the Shell.

[00:07:33] Visually amazing.

[00:07:34] And so that makes up for a lot of the problems underneath.

[00:07:40] The tunnel highway sequence, when he realizes that he can basically not be killed.

[00:07:47] He can be injured or he can feel pain, but he can't actually die.

[00:07:53] I think he gets run over by a car or something.

[00:07:56] That's a very well shot sequence and good action.

[00:08:00] The score is excellent.

[00:08:04] Very, very good score.

[00:08:07] And actually, before I forget, the wardrobe choices, the costume choices, spot on.

[00:08:16] Like his purplish fur coat and his baggy, very graphic t-shirts and sweaters and jeans, like all that stuff.

[00:08:27] I just, yeah, it's goofy and it's out there, but at least it's memorable.

[00:08:31] At least they're trying to do something different.

[00:08:34] And that makes, in some ways, that character more memorable than if he just was dressed very plainly.

[00:08:40] Along with the tattoos, of course.

[00:08:44] Considering this one really flopped hard financially, it's definitely too bad because of all the movies that get sequels that really don't warrant it or need it.

[00:08:54] I would love to see a sequel to this in whatever way that is.

[00:08:58] Like just seeing more of the gothic blockbuster world.

[00:09:01] We need more of that, in my opinion.

[00:09:06] So whatever you've heard, if you like this sort of film or if you just want something a little bit different, I would give it a look.

[00:09:14] You might like it more than you think you will.

[00:09:19] With movies like this, people just love to hate on it.

[00:09:22] And I don't get why.

[00:09:24] Sorry it's not Marvel.

[00:09:26] Sorry it's not a perfect little fit into a cinematic universe.

[00:09:32] It won't be a favorite of mine of the year, but I do see myself going back to this every so often.

[00:09:40] That is a 3.5 out of 5.

[00:09:45] So, you know.

[00:09:45] I don't know.