'The Crow' remake faces backlash, critics say it failed to keep 'promise'

The Crow flew right past theatres and the new remake received some reviews and suggestions from several critics. 

The dark superhero film, which starred Bill Skargård and the singer FKA Twigs, arrived in theaters on Friday, however, the reviews were revealed until Thursday night preview screening started.

According to Daily Mail, the film currently has a disappointing 14 percent rating by the most prestigious critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes.

Additionally, The Crow fares slightly better on Metacritic, which took into account the strength of pans and praise, however, it still only scored 30 out of a possible 100, as per the publication. 

It is worth mentioning that the 1994 original was a hit at the box office, however, several critics took this new version of The Crow to task for focusing more on "grim vibes than on the screenplay or acting," as reported by the outlet. 

Furthermore, Brandon Yu, New York Times' writer, accused the film of "failing to live up to the promise of the original film, even though it tried to evade those expectations," as per Daily Mail's reports. 

To those unversed, the critic noted that the makers of the film referred to it as a "reboot," rather than a "remake," as they claimed to have attempted to adapt the original graphic novel of the same name by James O'Barr, rather than basing their film on the 1994 version, which was directed by Alex Proyas.

In regards to this, Yu wrote, "The Crow of 2024 was never meant to be, couldn’t ever be, a version of that movie, a grittily stylized, rough-edged gothic melodrama whose pain and grief was so deeply absorbed by fans because those very things bled beyond the frame." 

It is pertinent to mention that Matthew Jackson gave The Crow a D rating and bemoaned that, "even though the film attempts not to be a remake of the original, viewers who are familiar with the 1994 film will have a hard time not comparing the new version to it," as per the outlet.