*Warning: spoilers ahead for The Crow!*
Sometimes, a crow can bring your soul back from the land of the dead to put the wrong things right. And sometimes, just sometimes, a comic book about grief reimagined as a superpower is readapted for the big screen without the core elements that make it worth a live-action adaptation in the first place.
I’ve said before that The Crow is not your ordinary comic book – and I’ll say it a million more times if I have to. When writer and graphic artist James O’Barr was just 18, his fiancee Beverly was killed by a drunk driver while on her way to pick him up from work. Wracked with guilt and suffering from immeasurable grief, O’Barr began writing and drawing The Crow as a way to cope – he didn’t care whether it was published or not. It’s a love letter to O’Barr’s fiancee and one that – to quote Eric Draven himself – knows pain at the molecular level. What if we could come back? We can’t do it over, but what if we could come back? What if we could fix it?
The Crow (2024), which the filmmakers describe as an adaptation of the comic and a reimagining rather than a reboot of the beloved 1994 movie, isn’t concerned with answering those questions. The new film seems to not only miss the point of its source material, but ignore the things that made the original adaptation succeed.
There is no "crow" in The Crow
As Bai Ling’s character explains in the original film, the crow is the link between the living and the dead. It acts as Eric’s lifeline. It grants him his temporary immortality. It acts as his ears and eyes and points him in the direction of each villain. When he’s about to show up and shed some blood, the crow enters the room or sits on the windowsill as a warning of what’s to come. In the comic, it talks. It scolds Eric when he gets caught up in memories of Shelly. It’s so much more than just a bird.
In the new movie, however, it’s just a bird. It’s not a crow that brings Eric (Bill Skarsgard) back from the dead, but a spirit guide named Kronos (who was most likely based on the comic book’s Skull Cowboy). He's the one in charge of granting – and taking away – Eric’s chance to avenge his and Shelly’s (FKA Twigs) deaths. The crow then serves as a pet of sorts, a little guy who follows him throughout the city and doesn’t do much of anything else. Now I’m not saying they should’ve put a talking CGI crow on Eric’s shoulder, but the film could’ve benefitted from honoring what’s considered the conceit, the core, of the story and franchise.
Real love is (supposed to be) forever
There’s a scene towards the end of the original movie where the crow is shot, and Eric (Brandon Lee) is suddenly unable to heal from his wounds. Officer Albrecht (Ernie Hudson), nursing a gunshot wound of his own, remarks, “I thought you were, you know, invincible,” to which Eric replies, “I was. I’m not anymore.” In the 2024 adaptation, however, Eric loses his powers when he starts to lose his love for Shelly. This makes sense on paper: love is the superpower. Got it. But in his loss of love for Shelly, he briefly loses the will to avenge their deaths. This means that, because Eric thinks Shelly is a bad person for the violent act she committed, his love for her is not pure. What’s the point of coming back from the dead and going on a grief-induced, rage-blinded killing spree to put both of your souls to death if your love isn’t pure?
At its truest core, The Crow is a love story. It’s about Eric’s undying, unwavering love for Shelly. It’s the throughline. It’s the only thing in the story that remains unchanged. Having him briefly fall out of love mid-revenge mission completely defeats the point of the story. Sure, he falls back in love – but only after he learns that the crime she committed was not actually her fault. It’s only when she becomes a good person again in his eyes that he regains his powers and continues on – and that’s not what Eric Draven is supposed to do, who Eric Draven is supposed to be. This is also why I think it should’ve been another sequel in the franchise, with different names for the main characters, rather than a new version of Eric and Shelly’s story.
Yes, the film opens with a scene taken straight from the comic book. Yes, the makeup montage honors the scene from the original movie right down to the broken mirror. But it’s missing the bigger picture, misunderstanding the point. It doesn’t make someone want to reach for the source material, to read a book that turns unimaginable grief into something special and beautiful, but I hope in my heart of hearts that they decide to anyway. It can’t rain all the time.
The Crow is in theaters now. The Crow (1994) is streaming now on Prime Video. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond.
