I was seventeen when the first Crow movie hit theaters. It’s hard to imagine a better movie for an angsty teen in 1994. I was already a fan of the comic book and absolutely loved the movie. There are lines from the Crow that I still quote to this day! Obviously a lot has changed in the past 30 years. Art that I might have called “sincere” is now considered “cringe”. Everything today needs to be viewed through a protective layer of irony. You need to deliver a wink to the audience every once in a while to let them know you’re not actually taking this shit too seriously. Maybe it’s the Gen X in me, but sometimes I want to take this shit too seriously.
I had heard that the new Crow movie was not good and so I avoided its theatrical release. Once it hit streaming I decided I had to try it for myself though and I’m very glad I did. The Crow 2024 feels like it could have been made in 1994. At no point does it ever wink at the audience to say “hey we know this is kinda silly”. Everyone here is fully committed to the bit as they say and is genuinely trying to make something worthy of the original comic if not exactly following it beat for beat. Sometimes It’s fun to take something that’s a little silly way too seriously. It’s not “cringe” to care about things without irony and quippyness acting as a sort of pressure release valve.
The Crow 2024 is a cool movie. It is a fun movie. It is helped tremendously by an excellent performance by Bill Skarsgard who very clearly gave this movie everything he had. I love his Eric Draven and he looks fucking awesome as the Crow. The action is excellent including a set piece at the opera that is one of the coolest scenes of that type in any movie I’ve seen. Like Deadpool the Crow cannot be killed but this movie strips out the humor of the situation and hits you with the reality and horror of how that would work.
Let’s be honest, this is a comic book in which the Crow writes “I know why Jesus wept, motherfucker” in the blood of his enemies. The Crow is a bathtub full of teenage angst and you are just supposed to soak in that shit. If you’re not willing or able to do that then you will not like the Crow 2024 because that’s exactly what it’s delivering. From the visuals to the soundtrack to the dialog this movie is unabashedly trying to make you feel some shit and I respect the hell out of it.
-Gabe Out
