The original version of The Crow (released in 1994) is a guilty pleasure of mine. The director of the 1994 version was Alex Proyas. In this newest edition, its director is Rupert Sanders. Redemption and power do not meet mesmerizing expectations in this current version of The Crow. There are depths of it that try with revenge and love to create a form of meaning. The background and characterizations of The Crow are meaningless.

The two characters are Eric (played by Bill Skarsgard) and Shelly (played by FKA twigs). They escape from prison, fall in love, and build their universe of romance. The enemy onto them is Vincent Roeg (played by Danny Huston). Vincent targets them both. Shelly is deceased. Eric seeks the power to bring her back. A mental state of mind brings Eric to the universes of the present and dead. The one who guides him on how to use his powers is Kronos (played by Sami Bouajila). Can Eric save the love of his life?

The beginning is Eric and Shelly having a life in prison. From there, they make their own life after escaping. The Crow has issues with its pacing. It will focus a lot on Eric and Shelly’s unconventional relationship. It will then transition to the mayhem of criminality coming down around them. Both are at the height of it, but one gains the power to do more detrimental things. With Eric having a love for art and words, his visions mean more than just love. The writing, however, is sloppy.

There is a lot of dragging. The scary powers take their time to get to their climatic scenarios do not come so smoothly in The Crow. It is even more complex to take Skarsgard seriously as Eric. He has a quiet monotone, and he does not possess tough-guy vibes.

There is a lot of turmoil. The Crow is captivating in a moment where criminality is finding light. Once that “light” finds its way to turn on, the dreads of terror come in drastically bad. It just throws it all in the bucket of vengeance (in Eric). With that, audiences can expect tons of tattoos, weird attitudes, and a strange path of poor writing in The Crow.

It misses its opportunities for invigoration. It is presented in the formality of predictability. “Predictability” of mediocrity. The 1972 version knew how to be on par with its good and bad guys. This version cares too much about making it look like a generic version of a superhero flick. It is not that though, It is just a horror with a poor script and angles. I felt there would be more to this. I had a feeling of moving parts. There were barely any. The Crow displays “moving parts” of flatness.

I do suggest revisiting the 1994 version before seeing this one. I felt lost throughout the context of this remake. It is detrimental and messy. It is a failure within the realms of structure. I do give it credit for trying to encourage its characterizations though. Two out of four stars.