Newer adaptations of a work of art will differ from each other in treatment with their own creative distinctiveness; viewers are well aware of the fact, but that doesn’t imply grossly misinterpreting the core essence of a work, making unnecessary, unlikeable alterations, and expecting the audience to accept it all the same. Bill Skarsgård starrer, The Crow (2024), a reboot of the neo-Gothic masterpiece The Crow (1994), is the latest example of how modern reimaginations of mainstream classics of bygone eras have time and again failed to capture the spirit of the original movies, resulting in lackluster, bloated adaptations that diminish the significance of the source material. There are a number of reasons as to why the 2024 film became a colossal failure, and some of them are so nonsensical that it made viewers feel it was made that bad on purpose.
Spoilers Ahead
Eric and Shelly’s Romance Is Unearned
The emotional crux of the original The Crow comic series, and the first movie adaptation as well, was the tragic fate of Eric Draven and Shelly Webster, a lovely couple who meet their untimely end at the hands of a group of psychotic gang members. Both adaptations showcase the connection the couple shared with each other through fleeting memories that flash through the resurrected Eric’s mind—flashbacks—and the way their relationship is explored through both visual and thematic elements allows the audience to connect with Eric’s plight of losing the love of his life. It also makes the presence of a supernatural element much more justifiable, given the bond the duo shared was just that strong, which naturally evoked an otherworldly, undying love angle into the narrative. Compared to this, the relationship, or whatever that was between the reboot entry’s version of Eric and Shelly, is nothing short of a bad joke, quite insulting to the representation of both characters. Aside from the issue that there was zero chemistry between the two leads, who were written very poorly in the first place, in the reboot, Eric and Shelly’s relationship has been explored terribly. The duo get to know each other for barely a week, their love language boils down to weird getting high-making love stereotypical edgy nonsense, and the movie still expects the audience to buy into them being soulmates. The relationship between the reboot version of Eric and Shelly is probably inspired by the Joker-Harley dynamic, which explains why it was so pathetic.
The Style Quotient Is Thrown into Void
The most memorable part of the original The Crow was how hauntingly beautifully a dark, morbid version of Detroit was presented. The stylization of combining neo-noir and gothic horror was not only limited to the titular character’s appearance; instead, the entire crime-ridden city was draped in an evocative ambience, which made for a perfect stomping grounds for its vigilante. Even though the three sequel movies of The Crow didn’t fare well among the audience and critics, all of them tried to adhere to this decision of setting the events in a world that seems more dark and fantastical than the real one. The reboot completely changes this aspect for inexplicable reasons, turning the world into more like a generic American city with no distinctiveness of its own. The titular character appears to be a clownish odd one out in a world like this, like imagine putting Batman in Metropolis instead of Gotham—that’s what happened in this case, pretty much. With the budget blown on VFX and other unnecessary things, it probably wouldn’t have taken as much to simply decorate the world in a macabre fashion.
Zero Emotional Resonance
It would be an understatement to call the reboot entry a vapid, soulless, lazy cash grab of a movie, which doesn’t even bother to make the narrative gel with the audience, as there is no emotional foundation upon which the story can anchor itself. In the original adaptation, the darkness and dread were well balanced by the warmth of the love Eric and Shelly shared with each other. Another memorable emotional connection was highlighted through the connection between Eric and Sarah. Even Sergeant Albrecht provided a much important third-person emotional perspective to the narrative, and nothing of this sort can be found in the reboot entry whatsoever. Let alone the supporting characters, the main leads themselves seem to be engaged in a pretentious act rather than being emotionally invested with each other.
Don’t Fix What Isn’t Broken
The mystery regarding the spirit of the Crow was one of the key hooks in the world of The Crow, which is why knowing the bare minimum about the spirit and its motivations and actions allowed the existing world-building to create an intriguing narrative from a pretty basic premise. The reboot entry needlessly tries to add to the established mythos by introducing a guide like figure, Devil, hell, and a generic underworld lore that never needed to be included in the lore to begin with. This isn’t MCU, you don’t need to keep on tacking on generic elements to the lore till it branches out of control. Sometimes what audiences seek is simplicity, but that very thing is tough to achieve for the majority of creators.
Screenplay, Creative Decisions—Nothing Works
The screenplay, or lack of it, is a major problem in the reboot, which makes it tough for viewers to go through the nearly two-hour-long movie in one go. Things just happen for the sake of it; totally disjointed events, inexplicable character decisions, and unbelievably bad dialogue pops up every now and then, which makes viewers wonder whether even a script written by AI could have fared better than this. The loophole-ridden plot, horrible characterization, incoherent narrative structure—overall, it seems everything worked in unison to ensure the train wreck of a movie doesn’t have any redeeming qualities whatsoever.
