There are people reading this review who weren’t born when producers first tried to bring back The Crow . On this website, the first article about it was 2008 (which just so happened to be io9’s first year of existence), and since then, every few years , a new director and star attempted to adapt James O’Barr’s gothic comic series for a new generation . I mention this because that history—whether you know it or not—somehow hangs heavily on Rupert Sanders’ The Crow , a reimagining of the original source material starring Bill Skarsgård.
Simply put, the mere idea of a new Crow movie carries with it an albatross of impossibility. For years, no one could make it happen. There has to be a reason.
And that reason must mean whatever finally makes it to theaters won’t be good. Well, Sanders’ version did make it. It’s coming to theaters this weekend.
And, I’m admittedly shocked to say, it’s actually pretty good. It’s not great. There are issues of course.
But even the lauded 1994 Alex Proyas film with Brandon Lee had those. Much like that film though, this one feels like a fresh interpretation of the story that may not see immediate success but is destined to be discovered by would-be fans in the years to come. The thing that immediately stands out about The Crow is just how obsessed it is with the relationship between the two main characters.
There’s Shelly, played by FKA twigs, who finds herself on the run from a mysterious entity and ends up in a rehab.