I’ve already tackled my reservations about the upcoming remake of “The Crow.” A 3-minute trailer was released in March, via Lionsgate. It still didn’t really sell me on this one. At the very least, director Rupert Sanders’s reboot has been stamped with a hard R rating — it’s said to be very violent.
It’s no secret that this ‘Crow’ reboot has been in development hell for the better part of 15 years. One of the key figures in this saga was screenwriter Cliff Dorfman (“Warrior”, “Entourage”) who wrote, at least, two drafts for the film, in 2012 and 2014.
Dorfman, who no longer shares a writing credit on the reboot, has apparently seen “The Crow” and he doesn’t seem too pleased about the finished product. So much so that he went on his X account to vent about it. Here’s what he had to say:
If hypothetically, one happened to see a screening of @TheCrow_Movie which @Lionsgate is releasing in August, one might say, it’s horrible, it’s unwatchable, don’t waste your money, or can’t believe it’s so much worse than the original. It is. And don’t.
I’m just wondering, why would Dorfman do this? He could have easily just kept his mouth shut and not said anything. And yet, here is, going on social media, to spread some venom about the film. There’s a lot more to the story.
This reboot of the 1994 cult classic “The Crow” will be released on August 23. Bill Skarsgård stars in the role of Eric Draven, which was made iconic by the late Brandon Lee in the original. Here’s the synopsis:
Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.
Skarsgard is joined in the cast of “The Crow” by singer FKA twigs, who plays Draven’s girlfriend/fiancée, and Danny Huston (“Yellowstone”). Sanders (“Snow White and the Huntsman”) is directing, from a screenplay by Oscar nominee Zach Baylin (“King Richard”).
Filming on this one wrapped more two years ago.
The whole raison d’être of the original was Brandon Lee. He’s the reason why it’s had such a healthy shelf life. Lee haunts every frame of “The Crow,” which had eerie parallels to his untimely death, a case of art imitating life.
Dariusz Wolski’s noir photography was another iconic component of “The Crow”. Director Alex Proyas made a fever-dream of a film that I don’t think can really be duplicated.
As expected, Snyder's latest is being torn apart by TIFF attendees. No mercy given. The film, which had its world premiere this evening, is being called by some one of the worst movies to ever premiere at the festival.