by Andy Bartsch, reporter
After director Colin Hardy’s departure from the remake of Alex Proyas’s 1994 film, The Crow, for months the film was put back in movie limbo. However as of this morning, Hardy has apparently returned to direct as Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa, is in talks to star. An odd choice as Momoa is pretty much know for “strongman” characters such as Conan, whereas the Crow is meant to be an everyman.
The film, based on James O’ Barr’s independent comic book of the same name, tells the story of Eric Draven, a young man who’s been brought back from the dead (thanks to the titular bird) to avenge the murder of his fiance, Shelly. Despite some rather iffy sequels, the film has remained a cult status to this day. The remake, however, has been stuck in development hell for the better part of the last decade. And ya know what? Good!
Proyas himself, has called the idea of a remake, “unnecessary”, and several fans, myself included, agree. Granted, by the time the third sequel, Wicked Prayer, was released, the formula had gotten pretty stale, and the production quality was pretty laughable. The last two films didn’t even get a theatrical release (but after the complete mess that is City of Angels, it’s easy to see why).
To be honest, the idea of a remake is rather insulting to the source material. The comic began as way for O’ Barr to cope with the death of his girlfriend. The film which it was based on will forever be infamous as the film that tragically cut Brandon Lee’s career short as he was accidentally killed during the film’s production. In this day in age, unless a director and writer has something of value to say or a clever twist with an already established property, it’s safe to say it’s already an inferior product and a simple cash grab would be an insult.
That being said, I’m entirely against the idea of a reboot of the franchise. What we need is a damn good idea from some creative and passionate filmmakers to (forgive the pun) bring the Crow back from the dead. Instead of the guy-is-killed-with-someone-he-loves-and-comes-back-to-avenge-them-while-an- awesome-soundtrack-plays formula, shake things up a bit. Have the protagonist be a devote Christian who struggles with his faith and commits suicide after his girlfriend’s killers aren’t brought to justice. When he is resurrected, he worries not only about the ramification of killing men simply because a bird told him to, but whether or not he’s destined to burn in Hell after committing suicide. Put some social commentary in there! Let’s say a victim of a hate crime is resurrected after his family is killed by members of a Neo Nazi hate group. Hell, doing something as simple as making the protagonist a woman is enough to shake things up a bit!
My point is there’s still plenty of life in the Crow series, and given all the different volumes of graphic novels to use as source material, fan films (I gave you three ideas in this article alone) , and a new generation in need of a more gothic comic book movie like this, it’s past time for the Crow to take flight once again.
Whether it’s breaking movie news, reviews of comic books, video games, or movies, we’ve got you covered at ComicsOnline.com. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our podcasts on iTunes for everything geek pop culture!
