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My ideas for a Crow remake
14 years ago
OK, as I'm sure all of you may have heard or in case you haven't, word out is that a remake of The Crow is being made. Or at least that's the rumor. Supposedly Stephen Norrington the director of the first Blade film and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is on board to write and direct it. When I first heard this I was anything but thrilled. Not because I'm a big Brandon Lee fan- I had no idea who Brandon really was except for the fact that he was the son of the late great Bruce Lee. Other than that I was completely unaware of the strong and powerful cult following that the first film had or how much a major impact Brandon had left behind after his untimely death during filming. I was blissfully unaware and all I had to go by was the film by itself. Years ago after seeing the film in its entirety (at night, a perfect time to watch such a perfect film) I personally felt that it had all the makings of a great single, individual project and its ending left plenty of closure (By the way if you haven't seen the first Crow I highly recommend that you do).
The story follows that of a young man called Eric Draven. When he and his blushing bride to unfortunately never be, Shelly Webster, are brutally slaughtered by a gang of thrill seeking, drug taking cut throats, a year later a mysterious crow visits the grave of Draven and brings him back from the dead to exact revenge on those responsible so that he and his beloved may finally rest in peace for their unsolved murder. While some of you may brush this idea off as simply as a "typical" Gothic movie or too predictable, The Crow is anything but and offers so much more and that's the tale of a man's journey fighting to return to the one that he loves. Quite honestly I feel the movie speaks for itself and you would have to watch it in order to get the full effect.
Now as to why I'm just a bit uneasy as to why a remake is being made is because of the simple fact that I just felt the first film offered closure. After Eric gets his revenge and returns to the grave, I felt that there wasn't any need to do another story (even though in the prologue there's supposedly a legend of when someone dies, the soul cannot rest until all the wrong things are set right. The crow brings back that tortured soul, which I guess leaves to suggest that something of this nature has occurred throughout time). As a kid, I felt that the only Crow in my mind wasn't Brandon Lee, it was Eric Draven (in the original comic Eric [with no surname] addressed himself as the Crow while in both the comic and the movie the Crow acted as Eric's guide and in the movie was simply the name for the black bird). As I've gotten older I truly believe the only actor that did a great job, without over doing it was indeed Brandon Lee. If the studios were to actually include James O' Barr, the author and illustrator of the Crow in on the remake project, I'd probably be fine. Only thing is that after the first film, O' Barr stated that he was through with The Crow as a film franchise, seeing as how Brandon had died during the first film. He wouldn't even accept payment for his involvement in the first film seeing as how after Brandon's death, O' Barr felt that it was "blood money".
Now, if a remake is to be made for sure and the studios absolutely FEEL and BELIEVE that it has to be done, this is how I would much prefer for it to go: instead of Norrington taking a more realistic approach to the character and I quote “Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style.”, I would much prefer for the film to follow O' Barr's original vision by the book, page by page, panel by panel, poem by poem. Sort of like Frank Miller's "Sin City" when it was adapted into a feature film.
I honestly can't see how you can make a story about a man coming back from the dead, "looking like a mime from Hell" realistic. Another thing I would like to see is for it not to be visually depicted as to how Eric rose from the dead, just as it was in the comic. O' Barr wanted to give credit to the reader's intelligence and allow us to personally interpret how Eric came back. And from page 1, he already was well aware that he was back on Earth and understood why he was brought back and what his mission was. Also, the original director of The Crow, Alex Proyas and Brandon Lee had dreamed of filming Eric's life as it was in the present to be filmed in black and white, while the flashbacks of his former existence with Shelly be filmed in Technicolor. I believe this would be a very dramatic and powerful tool to tell the story and to follow the graphic novel "noir" feel of the comic, which was done completely in black and white. I also think it would be symbolically effective. I think Norrigton can pull it off if he takes this project more seriously and gets his head out of his ass and include O' Barr's vision with him on board. Rumors are also speculating that Mark Wahlberg could be taking on the role of Eric. Not too sure how I feel about that. I'm no casting director but Criss Angel looks as though he was born to play the part, not to mention his voice, body type, style and mannerisms seem to fit the part of "the dark avenger" AKA"the killer of killers". And no 3D. Why do you think The Dark Knight rises isn't being filmed in 3D? It will take away from the story's cinematic and artistic credit and distance the audience from that world instead of being welcomed in.
So tell me what you guys think. Is this a good way to go about "reimagining" The Crow or should Hollywood leave the only good film of the franchise be and try to do something original for once in this era of partially successful roster of remakes? Please no derogatory language that includes bashing homosexuals i.e. "aw this is so gay, what fags, etc.". If at all possible refrain from over the top swearing or swearing all together. If you're passionate then please by all means, be so, but just be mature and professional about it.
The story follows that of a young man called Eric Draven. When he and his blushing bride to unfortunately never be, Shelly Webster, are brutally slaughtered by a gang of thrill seeking, drug taking cut throats, a year later a mysterious crow visits the grave of Draven and brings him back from the dead to exact revenge on those responsible so that he and his beloved may finally rest in peace for their unsolved murder. While some of you may brush this idea off as simply as a "typical" Gothic movie or too predictable, The Crow is anything but and offers so much more and that's the tale of a man's journey fighting to return to the one that he loves. Quite honestly I feel the movie speaks for itself and you would have to watch it in order to get the full effect.
Now as to why I'm just a bit uneasy as to why a remake is being made is because of the simple fact that I just felt the first film offered closure. After Eric gets his revenge and returns to the grave, I felt that there wasn't any need to do another story (even though in the prologue there's supposedly a legend of when someone dies, the soul cannot rest until all the wrong things are set right. The crow brings back that tortured soul, which I guess leaves to suggest that something of this nature has occurred throughout time). As a kid, I felt that the only Crow in my mind wasn't Brandon Lee, it was Eric Draven (in the original comic Eric [with no surname] addressed himself as the Crow while in both the comic and the movie the Crow acted as Eric's guide and in the movie was simply the name for the black bird). As I've gotten older I truly believe the only actor that did a great job, without over doing it was indeed Brandon Lee. If the studios were to actually include James O' Barr, the author and illustrator of the Crow in on the remake project, I'd probably be fine. Only thing is that after the first film, O' Barr stated that he was through with The Crow as a film franchise, seeing as how Brandon had died during the first film. He wouldn't even accept payment for his involvement in the first film seeing as how after Brandon's death, O' Barr felt that it was "blood money".
Now, if a remake is to be made for sure and the studios absolutely FEEL and BELIEVE that it has to be done, this is how I would much prefer for it to go: instead of Norrington taking a more realistic approach to the character and I quote “Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style.”, I would much prefer for the film to follow O' Barr's original vision by the book, page by page, panel by panel, poem by poem. Sort of like Frank Miller's "Sin City" when it was adapted into a feature film.
I honestly can't see how you can make a story about a man coming back from the dead, "looking like a mime from Hell" realistic. Another thing I would like to see is for it not to be visually depicted as to how Eric rose from the dead, just as it was in the comic. O' Barr wanted to give credit to the reader's intelligence and allow us to personally interpret how Eric came back. And from page 1, he already was well aware that he was back on Earth and understood why he was brought back and what his mission was. Also, the original director of The Crow, Alex Proyas and Brandon Lee had dreamed of filming Eric's life as it was in the present to be filmed in black and white, while the flashbacks of his former existence with Shelly be filmed in Technicolor. I believe this would be a very dramatic and powerful tool to tell the story and to follow the graphic novel "noir" feel of the comic, which was done completely in black and white. I also think it would be symbolically effective. I think Norrigton can pull it off if he takes this project more seriously and gets his head out of his ass and include O' Barr's vision with him on board. Rumors are also speculating that Mark Wahlberg could be taking on the role of Eric. Not too sure how I feel about that. I'm no casting director but Criss Angel looks as though he was born to play the part, not to mention his voice, body type, style and mannerisms seem to fit the part of "the dark avenger" AKA"the killer of killers". And no 3D. Why do you think The Dark Knight rises isn't being filmed in 3D? It will take away from the story's cinematic and artistic credit and distance the audience from that world instead of being welcomed in.
So tell me what you guys think. Is this a good way to go about "reimagining" The Crow or should Hollywood leave the only good film of the franchise be and try to do something original for once in this era of partially successful roster of remakes? Please no derogatory language that includes bashing homosexuals i.e. "aw this is so gay, what fags, etc.". If at all possible refrain from over the top swearing or swearing all together. If you're passionate then please by all means, be so, but just be mature and professional about it.
