As I’m sure we all know, a reboot of The Crow is dropping in theaters in June. The original film stars Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the circumstances regarding the original film, Brandon was fatally shot during filming due to an unfortunate sequence of preventable events. He was a young actor with a lot of promise, and the 1994 film has always felt like a tribute to him.
I have a lot of thoughts about the upcoming reboot.
The Crow – Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven
I love Bill Skarsgård. He is an amazing actor. HOWEVER, the makeup and wardrobe teams make him look like the douchey nephew of Post Malone and The Joker. There is literally a source material full of drawings of Eric Draven. Please refer to it. PLEASE.
The majority of the trailer is Skarsgard and FKA Twigs canoodling. THIS IS NOT A LOVE STORY. The Crow is, and has always been, a story of tragedy and revenge. I know that this is a reboot, but let me remind everyone that James O’Barr, the creator of the comic book, is still alive. Why not have him write, or at least consult, on the screenplay? Almost no one throws violent scenes into a romance, so keep excessive romance out of horror movies.
The Reverberations of Firearm Accidents
The movie is directed by Rupert Sanders, perhaps best known for being Kristen Stewart’s side piece during the filming of Snow White and the Huntsman. His other movie credit is the 2017 live-action Ghost in the Shell, the adaptation of the manga starring Scarlett Johansson. In a movie based on a Japanese comic book.
It would have been a great thing if Hollywood had instituted stricter arms management after the filming of the movie (as well as enforced them). It was a mere three years ago that Alec Baldwin accidentally killed the cinematographer and injured the director while rehearsing a scene with a live weapon. Why was an actor with presumably limited firearms training allowed to handle a loaded weapon on the set with no supervision? Now a family mourns a loss that could have been prevented, and Alec Baldwin has to live with the knowledge that he killed someone, albeit accidentally.
Cultural Significance
Let’s get personal for a minute. In the mid-90s, it was fairly rare to see an Asian lead in an American studio film, and even more rare to see a mixed-race person. My mother is Japanese, and my father is Caucasian. As a kid who grew up constantly being asked “what are you?” and never seeing dolls that looked like me, it meant something to see Brandon Lee play a non-stereotypically Asian character. Representation matters.
Thankfully the last few years have been pretty epic for Asians in entertainment, and for that I am proud. I hope that the studio dedicates the upcoming movie to Brandon Lee, or at the very least doesn’t destroy his legacy with a subpar film.
One Response
The Crow didn’t need remaking. The same can be said for a lot of movies including The Omen. It seems to me that movie producers go this route because they figure that if a movie has made money once, it can do it again. It’s a case of trying to cash-in on an already respected product.
It’s hard not to wonder how many new stories that have as good or greater potential never see the light of day.