The Crow

Long sigh..... What are we doing here people, huh?

I'm not against redoing movies at all, but if you're going to do it please do it right. This movie was very bad in many ways, the misuse of actors. The Crow character was such a wimp, i kept saying maybe he'll get better, nope! The entire story, weak, the music, weak, I mean the opera setting with the opera music during the action scene was just horrible and down right annoying to say the least. I had many doubts going into this movie, but knew I just had to watch it to make sure. Boy was I let down, along with a ton of other people. Post movie, I'm still confused as to what I watched last night.

The original was good but not brilliant. Then again, which movies are? That said, it deservedly became a cult classic.

It's one of those movies that are almost begging to be made, with a new spin, bigger budget, more character development, and with CGI and better special effects available, yes please!

Unfortunately, this reboot falls flat and is no way near as good as the original.

The director's character development seems to focus solely on the intensity of the love between a couple. However, there is no intensity but only spoilt, shallow, brooding, and unsympathetic characters who don't seem to know the actual meaning of love. So as to why Eric was sent back to avenge but not others I clearly don't know.

Then the director fills the rest of the film with uninteresting no-meat-on-the-bones characters and by-the-numbers, weak script..

At some point, I cynically wondered if the director was one of those who cut their teeth making music videos. It seems I was right.

You're left feeling disappointed and quite angry that they screwed this up.

This is the story of a relationship so powerful, so intense, that it brings a man back from the brink of death to revenge his fallen loved one. Yet, here, in this new iteration of the story the relationship between Eric and Shelly lacks so much chemistry and intensity that about halfway into the film I'd almost forgotten it happened.

The script is stilted and clichéd. The performances are wooden and feel massively dialled in. Most of the action is poorly choreographed and doesn't work well. On the plus side some of the effects, and occasional slices of action, do work decently, but that's about it.

I really like Bill Skarsgård, but I do not like this at all. The director has said it's not a remake, or a sequel, and that it he 'wanted the evolution of Eric to The Crow to be fresh but rooted in the graphic novel. Now, I haven't read the graphic novels, but I'm sure those that have will make their voices heard.

Overall? It's a lacklustre movie, with poorly written dialogue, uneasy performances and almost zero chemistry between two people who are supposed to have an incredible 'love eternal'. The saving grace is the soundtrack which does include some awesome music. 2/5...I'll never watch it again...

The trailer for this looked terrific, and it made me want to see it as soon as I could, but it is a case of here we go again, a great looking trailer, a disappointing film.

I'll start off with the positives, and there are a few of them. It looks stunning, this is one beautiful looking film, so dramatic, the costumes, the birds, the action sequences, and that place beyond.

The music is terrific, it worked so well, we even get some Enya, a voice made for moody and atmospheric scenes.

Eric certainly looks the part, and I can imagine plenty of youngsters with pictures of him on their walls, the tattooed, hipster looks cool, and there's no denying that Bill Skarsgård plays the part very, very well, but something was missing. I didn't care about Eric, or his fate, or his romance.

As soon as Eric got his powers, it was essentially game over, the villain of the piece was powerless to stop his dark eye shadowed up adversary.

Danny Huston was good, and I loved seeing Josette Simon in a big movie release, a talented actress who's been around for so long, yet never seems to age.

Atmospheric and moody, but ultimately lacking in soul and substance.

5/10.

I like Bill Skarsgård as an actor and I'm feeling sorry for him that they completely wasted his talent here.

Although I'm also a huge fan of the original movie The Crow with Brandon Lee I tried to be as unbiased as possible and not to make any comparisons but instead look at it like a completely new movie.

Initially, I liked the idea of showing more of the story between Eric and Shelly but I had quite a hard time of getting warm with the female lead. However, while watching and waiting for the lovestory of a century to unfold on the screen my expectations were repeatedly let down. I don't know what fimmakers were thinking. I don't know what they aimed at. EVERYTHING about their storytelling was kept very shallow. They tried to depict broken characters falling in love while being intertwined in a brutal fight against evil but they only ever scratched at the surface of what an appealing narrative should be like.

They absolutely failed in telling the story about that pure and unconditional love between the leading roles. Mind you, a love so pure and innocent, so powerful, that it brings one back from the death to take revenge and wipe out the evil that separated the two loving souls in the first place.

They could have put that in a 5 min. Narrative: Why did they fall in love? Oh, uh... they both experienced veeery bad things. Anything else? Uh... yeah... they love to party and get stoned together! And that's why he's brought back? Yeah, he must kill them all!

I'm so sorry... nothing in this movie worked for me. And though I didn't want to I'm bound to make this one comparison: Each time I watch the original movie, I'm still moved. I want the kind of love that Eric and Shelly shared, I want the villains to suffer and die. I wallow in that dark and at the same time beautiful scenery of the whole movie.

Not with this one though. I just couldn't wrap up any kind of feelings, neither towards the main characters nor the villains. I just didn't care. Just like the movie makers obviously didn't care.