If a new adaptation of The Crow seems to have been in the making for a long damn time, that’s because it has! Changing shape a lot over the years, with everyone from Bradley Cooper to Ryan Gosling to Jason Momoa attached to it. We finally have the finished product in Rupert Sanders’ new adaptation of James O’Barr’s comic book series.

In this incarnation Bill Skarsgård stars as Eric, a struggling addict still impacted by his early childhood trauma, who – at his rehabilitation centre – comes across Shelly (FKA Twigs), a young woman escaping a nasty person in a position of power who not only is trying to silence her but take her very soul. In each other, Eric and Shelly find a love each never thought imaginable, until Shelly’s past comes back to haunt them both…except some things never die.

The Crow (2024) is admirable in striving to be different (think supernatural John Wick in its aim) and with this property, you really need to be because Brandon Lee’s silhouette still resides over this character onscreen and the 1994 film remains a definitive piece of craft that spoke to so many and resonated further because of the tragic story on and off screen. So you are very much in a tough spot with any adaptation of this one.

Credit to Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs, who each give it a good go in the leading roles, and do start the film off in some promising fashion but in spite of one strong ganrly action sequence at an opera house towards the end of the movie, this film was a muddled mess overall. 

The script is inconsistent, with fluctuations in tone and some really hammy dialogue. The mythology is even more all over the place, and as erratic as the titular soul-carrying birds, as evident by the ‘there it is’ ending. Which falls victim (victims aren’t we all?) to rather overly ambitious sequel baiting.  

Really this film suffers most because of its overcomplification of The Crow’s poignant story of undying love and soul, which leaves this version feeling distant from the source material. The rules are never properly set in this film’s world of the living and dead, and the added immortal demonic antagonist sub-plot is indebted completely to Danny Huston’s effortless menace but never gives the villainous part he portrays any real reason for being here. 

Despite the odd violent flourish, this film is not artistically satisfying nor as emotionally impactful as it should be, leaving it not only a little lifeless but also in the shadow completely of both the iconic 1994 adaptation and the comics as well. Dead on arrival sadly.

The Crow is still showing in select UK cinemas, and is available now on Digital release.