New plot and story details have allegedly been revealed concerning the upcoming reboot of The Crow.
The film has been in production hell since 2008, but finally moved forward with Bill Skarsgård attached to play Eric Draven aka The Crow. It is directed by Rupert Sanders based off a screenplay written by Zach Baylin and Will Schneider. Along with Skarsgård it also features FKA Twigs as Shelly Website and Isabella Wei as Zadie.
Bill Skarsgård speaking at the 2013 WonderCon at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
YouTuber Mr. H Reviews shared the new plot and story details after his anonymous source provided him information following a test screening of the film.
https://youtu.be/SfYdsy3_zXg
First, Mr. H Reviews details, “This is a very different interpretation of James O’Barr’s graphic novel. Interestingly, it’s only the very basic premise and a few characters carried over into this brand new story, which is I think going to be annoying for a few people.”
He went on to detail that his source said the film is “one of the better ones in the franchise … but it does lack the energy and style of the 1994 original.”
Mr. H Reviews continued, “So the movie itself is very, very slow in pace with a tone reminiscent of gritty, neo-noir thrillers like Drive or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo rather than the very gothic rain swept fantasy world of Tim Burton’s Batman.”
The Crow Special Edition (2017), Gallery 13
Next, he provided details on how Skarsgård’s Eric Draven is depicted, “So the very best thing about this movie is the incredible and committed performance by Bill Skarsgård ’cause he is the lead, who is seen sporting a cropped mullet, interesting, and full body tattoos.”
Moving to the plot he states, “So the film opens with our protagonist Eric Draven fighting to get clean in a rehab facility. It’s here that he meets Shelly, a beautiful new resident with her own dark past. So they’re both residents, both addicts. The two quickly become infatuated with each other and eventually break out of the facility together running off into a nameless city ready to take the world head on. So it’s building that love story.”
“The first act of the movie focuses on their budding romance, they live fast, and they play hard, enjoying recreational drugs, making love, and professing their newfound affection for each other,” he continued. “However, not soon after we are introduced to the film’s antagonist, a powerful business magnate known as Mr. Roeg, who’s played by Danny Huston. This individual has connections to Shelly’s past. Roeg is imbued with supernatural abilities, interesting, that allow him to trade innocent souls in exchange for an extended lifespan here on earth.”
“When Shelly bears witness to his sinister agenda, he sends his thugs to find and eliminate her and anyone else who can compromise his position of power. So this leads to the inevitable confrontation where Shelly and Eric are discovered and then brutally executed by Roeg’s henchman,” he detailed.
Brandon Lee as Eric Draven in The Crow (1994), Paramount Pictures
Next, Mr. H Reviews states, “So Eric sort of wakes up in like a dream world, a limbo. It’s like a world between worlds guarded by an army or crows and guided by a mysterious vagabond man, who seems to be a representative of the afterlife.”
“The guardian then sets Eric on his path to putting the wrong things right by means of vengeance in order to rescue Shelly’s soul from hell. He returns to the world of the living unable to be killed, but lacking the skills to fight. One of the more interesting aspects of this movie versus the previous films is that Eric doesn’t suddenly have the confidence and physical prowess to take his revenge easily,’ the YouTuber relays. “This one, it’s very messy. He suffers some brutal physical damage along the way. His healing abilities are much slower and he definitely feels pain with every attack.”
The Crow (1989), Kitchen Sink Press
Returning to the character design, he shared, “For the majority of the film Eric doesn’t have the traditional look of The Crow either. He doesn’t full transform into the undead avenger until the final act.”
“And also, interestingly, he doesn’t have the crow as a constant companion,” he elaborated. “There are multiple birds seen throughout the movie in the background, but they don’t necessarily guide him in his mission. He has to figure out how to track down his killers on his own.”
“The film is extremely violent … though there’s a lack of personality from the villains. … They’re mostly interchangeable thugs and it robs the chaos of any emotional impact. So they are mostly just meat for the grinder, cannon fodder,” Mr. H Reviews stated.
“There’s also very little action with only one memorable set piece: a spectacularly bloody showdown at an opera house that really delivers the necessary visceral thrills. So, again, it’s that slow pace interspersed with very little action and then presumably that third act showdown,” he said.
Brandon Lee as Eric Draven in The Crow (1994), Paramount Pictures
“The standout is Skarsgård,” Mr. H Reviews asserted. “He is absolutely the standout. He’s not an action hero. He’s vulnerable. He’s emotional. There’s a real sense of trauma about him and even fear that we see in Eric when he realizes what’s happening to him.”
“And when he’s finally ready to unleash hell on his enemies it feels earned,” he continued. “There’s no doubt that he was the absolute top choice to play this character.”
“The singer turned actress FKA Twigs, who plays Shelly, brings the necessary charm and warmth to the role. She’s beautiful, sympathetic. Plays a much larger role here than in the original,” he said. “Danny Huston is appropriately menacing as the villain though he’s never quite as compelling or as interesting as Michael Wincott’s Top Dollar in the original.”
Mr. H Reviews then concluded, “So the movie overall isn’t bad, but it doesn’t have the same emotional impact as the 1994 film and sadly my source doesn’t see it becoming as iconic, but they will give it credit daring to be bold and different instead of being a lazy copy of the original. They swing for the fences here and mostly works aside from a slow pace, not as much action as you’d like, but apparently it does all pretty much land, for the most part.”
The Crow (1989), Kitchen Sink Press
What do you make of these plot and story details for The Crow reboot?
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