We rank the entire Crow motion pictures, from the 1994 unique all the way in which to the 2024 reboot, which is now in theatres.
I’m considerably bewildered over how outraged individuals have been over the brand new model of The Crow (don’t name it a remake!). Many are calling it a stain on the legacy of the late, nice Brandon Lee, who infamously was killed in an on-set tragedy, however by inspecting the franchise as an entire, it’s clear that so far as this stuff go, the franchise has been exploited to dying. There have been a minimum of 5 Crow motion pictures at this level, and guess what? We’re going to rank all of them! That stated, so far as our Crow motion pictures ranked listing goes, they’re all various levels of unhealthy outdoors the primary film and the brand new model, which isn’t half unhealthy.
Dishonourable Point out: The Crow: Stairway to Heaven
Sure, women and germs, they as soon as made a TV model of The Crow, and it was abysmal. You could find out all the pieces it’s essential to know concerning the present within the video embedded above, however suffice it to say nearly each profitable style film received a nasty TV model made in Canada within the nineties. There was Poltergeist: The Sequence, F/X: The Sequence, Highlander: The Sequence (really, that one wasn’t so unhealthy) and The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. Regardless of starring the good Mark Dacascos and incomes surprisingly OK evaluations, this present solely lasted a single season of twenty-two episodes earlier than the model of Eric Draven was allowed to relaxation in peace.
A few of chances are you’ll be scratching your heads over this title, because the fourth Crow sequel barely received any launch earlier than being dumped to video. However, in 2005, The Weinstein Brothers resurrected the collection by way of their Dimension Movies label, basing the brand new film on a graphic novel by Norman Partridge. With cult director Lance Mungia of Six String Samurai on the helm, the hope may need been that this scrappy sequel would win again followers of the unique, however it was not meant to be. Whereas star Edward Furlong does a superb job within the early scenes of Depraved Prayer, as soon as he turns into The Crow, he comes off as slight and laughable, and Mungia’s pseudo-spaghetti western tone feels much less like Sergio Leone and extra like a (unhealthy) Robert Rodriguez riff. No less than David Boreanaz is round to have a whale of a time because the film’s villain, Luc Crash (his lover, performed by Tara Reid, is called Byrne – get it – Crash & Burn?), and Dennis Hopper performs a satanic priest named – and I’m not making this up – El Niño.
In contrast to Depraved Prayer, this was at all times supposed to be a serious theatrical launch. However, on this period, The Weinstein Bros had a behavior of shelving motion pictures indefinitely or releasing them direct-to-video if check screenings weren’t good. This went the DTV route, and the director, Bharat Nalluri, didn’t direct one other film for eight years, later reinventing himself as a director of status fare akin to Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day and The Man Who Invented Christmas. As such, it is a fairly unhealthy entry into the franchise, with some laughably dated elements, akin to a nasty riff on The Matrix’s bullet time, which was all the fashion in 2000. However Eric Mabius delivers a good tackle the titular character, with him extra of a demonic prankster than a heroic avenger. Plus, there’s Kirsten Dunst in an early function I’m positive she’d like to neglect.
Like all the opposite sequels, this one went by way of a tortured post-production course of, with Harvey “Scissorhands” Weinstein having director Tim Pope’s movie minimize right down to a mere eighty-four minutes. Pope went on file saying that he tried to make a sequel in contrast to the primary film, just for the Weinstein Bros to alter the method on the eleventh hour, leading to a disastrous theatrical model that ended a couple of careers. After this, star Vincent Perez gave up on a Hollywood profession, returning to France, the place he remained an enormous star. Like the opposite motion pictures, although, it does have some good components, such because the yellow-coloured visible palette, a cool efficiency by Iggy Pop as one of many villains, and a killer soundtrack. Possibly at some point, Pope can reconstruct his unique model of the movie.
The Crow (2024)
Whereas followers have been sharpening their knives ever since Invoice Skarsgard’s look because the title character was revealed, it’s actually not that unhealthy. Had been it not for the horrible pacing and lacklustre story beats, I believe followers would react extra positively to this new tackle the character, with Skarsgard and villain Danny Huston delivering memorable performances.
The Crow (1994)
In fact, the one film on this listing I’d really say is legitimately good is Alex Proyas’s unique. Enjoyable reality: I used to be a goth child a few years in the past, and all of us wished to look precisely like Brandon Lee on this film. Whereas the truth that he died is an unimaginable tragedy, his legacy lives on like somebody like James Dean or Heath Ledger does, as he’ll at all times be frozen in time because the romantic avenger Eric Draven. Alex Proyas directed a beautiful film with among the best soundtracks of all time (The Treatment’s ‘Burn’ is a specific favorite), plus Michael Wincott performed some of the memorable evil villains of the ’90s, High Greenback. For those who love this film, and I doubt you’d be studying this column in the event you don’t, you owe it to your self to take a look at the beautiful new 4K disc from Paramount.
How would you rank The Crow motion pictures? Tell us within the feedback!
