According to recent reports, we’re on the verge of seeing a Crow remake, with Tom Hiddleston in the lead. People tend to be knee-jerk opposed to the idea, but it’s actually a good candidate for a remake, for several reasons.
They Never Could Have Adapted The Original Comic Twenty Years Ago
The original comic of The Crow is not necessarily always coherent. It’s essentially J. O’Barr having an enormous emotional meltdown over the death of his fiancee in a car accident on paper.
But when it takes off, it really takes off. O’Barr creates moments of stomach-churning emotional horror throughout the book, and the original movie couldn’t hope to touch on some of these moments and even get an R rating nearly twenty years ago. For example, in the movie, Eric and his fiancee are killed by some thugs because of some cliche plot about slumlords and an S&M-club owning gangster. In the comic, they’re killed because they happen to cross the path of a bunch of monsters, and it’s one of the most troubling moments in comics you’ll ever read.
Hiddleston Is Great Casting
One suspects that without Hiddleston there’s no remake.
In the middle of no fewer than two massive action movies, he’s delivered a nuanced performance. Loki isn’t a cackling villain, he just really, really wants to be one, and it’s his emotional failures that make for some of the best moments in both Thor and The Avengers.
The Original Movie Is Dated In Some Respects
Once you watch it without the haze of nostalgia, one thing becomes pretty clear: The Crow isn’t a bad movie but it’s one limited by both its budget and by how Hollywood viewed both action movies and comic book movies at the time. Granted some of this is also to do with basic storytelling technique, especially in the third act, but as the movie strays from the comic it tends to cling to formula.
Of course, there’s no guarantee the remake wouldn’t have the same problems, but hey, at least they’re trying.