Movie Review: 'The Crow' reimagined is stylish and operatic, but cannot outfly 1994 original

One of the first things you see in the reimagined “The Crow” is the sight of a fallen white horse in a muddy field, bleeding badly after becoming entangled in barbed wire. It's a metaphor, of course, and a clunky one at that — a powerful image that doesn't really fit well and is never explained.

That's a hint that director Rupert Sanders will have a tendency to consistently pick the stylish option over the honest one in this film. In his attempt to give new life to the cult hero of comics and film, he's given us plenty of beauty at the expense of depth or coherence.

The filmmakers have set their tale in a modern, generic Europe and made it very clear that this movie is based on the graphic novel by James O’Barr, but the 1994 film adaptation starring Brandon Lee hovers over it like, well, a stubborn crow.

Brandon, son of legendary actor and martial artist Bruce Lee, was just 28 when he died after being shot while filming a scene for “The Crow.” History seems always to repeat: The new adaptation lands as another on-set death remains in the headlines.

Lee's “The Crow” was finished without him and he never got to see it enter Gen X memory in all its rain-drenched, gothic glory, influencing everything from alternative fashion to “Blade” to Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy.

Bill Skarsgård seizes Lee's role of Eric Draven, a man so in love that he returns from the dead to revenge his and his sweetheart's slayings in what can be best called a sort of supernatural, romantic murderfest. (The tagline, “True love never dies,” clumsily rips off Andrew Lloyd Webber's “The Phantom of the Opera.”)

William Schneider, who co-wrote the screenplay with Zach Baylin, has given the story a near-operatic facelift, by introducing a devil, a Faustian bargain, blood-on-blood oaths and a godlike guide who monitors the limbo between heaven and hell, which looks like a disused, weed-covered railway station. “Kill the ones who killed you and you’ll get her back,” our hero is told.

The first half drags at it sets the table for the steady beat of limbs and necks being detached at the end. Eric and his love, Shelly (played by an uneven FKA Twigs), meet in a rehab prison for wayward youth that is so well lit and appointed that it looks more like an airport lounge where the cappuccinos are $19 but the Wi-Fi is complimentary.

Eric is a gentle loner — tortured by a past the writers don't bother filling in, who likes to sketch in a book (universal cinema code signaling a sensitive soul) and is heavily tattooed (he's often shirtless). His apartment has rows of mannequins with their heads covered in plastic and his new love calls him “brilliantly broken.” He's like a Blink-182 lyric come to life.

Shelly is more complex, but that's because the writers maybe gave up on giving her a real backstory. She has a tattoo that says “Laugh now, cry later,” reads serious literature and loves dancing in her underwear. She clearly comes from wealth and has had a falling out with her mom, but has also done an unimaginably horrible thing, which viewers will learn about at the end.

Part of the trouble is that the lead couple cast off very little electricity, offering a love affair that's more teen-like than all-consuming. And this is a story that needs a love capable of transcending death.

There are lots of cool-looking moments — mostly Skarsgård in a trench coat, stomping around the desolate concrete jungle in the rain at night — until “The Crow” builds to one of the better action sequences this year, albeit another one of those heightened showdowns at the opera.

By this time, Eric has donned the Crow's heavy eye and cheek makeup. He adds to this ensemble a katana and an inability to die. As he closes in on his target, mowing down tuxedoed bad guys as arias soar, the group movements on stage are echoed by the furious fighting backstage. A few severed heads might be considered over the top at curtain call, but subtlety isn't being applauded here.

If the original was plot-light but visually delicious, the new one has a better story but suffers from ideas in the films built on its predecessor, stealing a little from “The Matrix,” “Joker” and “Kill Bill.” Why not create something entirely new?

“The Crow” isn't bad — and it gets better as it goes — but it's an exercise in folly. It cannot escape Lee and the 1994 original even as it builds a more allegorical scaffolding for the smartphone generation. To use that very first metaphor, it's like the trapped white horse — held down by its own painful past, never free to gallop on its own.

“The Crow,” a Lionsgate release that hits theaters Friday, is rated R for “strong bloody violence, gore, language, sexuality/nudity and drug use.” Running time: 111 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Rupert Sanders, from left, FKA twigs, and Bill Skarsgard attend "The Crow" world premiere at the Village East by Angelika on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Bill Skarsgard attends "The Crow" world premiere at the Village East by Angelika on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

This image released by Lionsgate shows Bill Skarsgård, left, and FKA twigs in "The Crow". (Larry Horricks/Lionsgate via AP)

This image released by Lionsgate shows Bill Skarsgård, left, and FKA twigs in "The Crow". (Larry Horricks/Lionsgate via AP)

This image released by Lionsgate shows Bill Skarsgård in "The Crow". (Larry Horricks/Lionsgate via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials on Thursday said they don’t know how a Missouri person caught bird flu but believe it may be a rare instance of a “one-off" standalone illness.

Investigators trying to determine how the person caught the virus have not been able to confirm the exact strain of flu.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the risk to the general public remains low. The Missouri case raised questions about the possibility of human-to-human bird flu transmission, but officials said there is no evidence of other people being infected.

“Right now, evidence points to this being a one-off case,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, CDC principal deputy director.

Unusual flu strains that come from animals are occasionally found in people. This year alone, health officials identified seven human cases of swine flu in the U.S., officials said. But this is the first time the surveillance system detected an avian flu like this.

The H5N1 bird flu has been spreading widely among wild birds, poultry, cows and a growing number of other animals. Its growing presence in the environment increases the chances that people will be exposed, and potentially catch it, Shah said.

Citing patient confidentiality, health officials have disclosed few details about the Missouri case, which was first announced late last week.

The person had chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and weakness and was hospitalized on Aug. 22 “for reasons related to their underlying medical conditions,” Shah said.

The patient was tested for flu as part of the treatment and was positive for influenza A, a broad virus category. Subsequent testing — completed last week — found the bug to belong to category of viruses usually seen in birds and not people. However, the patient had a very low concentration of viral genetic material, leaving officials without the ability to full analyze it and confirm exactly which virus it is, Shah said.

"Ultimately, a full sequence may not be technically feasible," Shah said.

The patient had no known contact with dairy cows or other animals associated with the ongoing bird flu outbreak. The person later told Missouri health officials that they didn't drink unpasteurized milk or dairy products, Shah said in a Thursday call with reporters.

The patient received antiviral medication and has since recovered and gone home, health officials said.

As part of their investigation, officials hope to draw blood from people who were around the patient to see if they show evidence of infection, Shah said.

The Missouri patient was the 14th person in the U.S. sickened with bird flu since March, when the virus was detected in cows. One other person was infected in 2022. All of those cases were relatively mild illnesses, and each patient had been in direct contact with infected animals.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Officials call Missouri bird flu case a 'one-off' and say risk to public is still low

Officials call Missouri bird flu case a 'one-off' and say risk to public is still low

FILE - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is shown, March 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)