No super-heroics

Rupert Sanders (‘Ghost in the Shell, ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’) re-envisions the dark super-heroics of James O’Barr’s comic about a man who comes back from the dead to avenge his girlfriend’s murder as a sort of homage to Brandon Lee (Bruce Lee’s son), who essayed the eponymous role in the original adaptation that led to his tragic death on the set while filming.

Sanders and screenwriters Zach Baylin and William Schneider fashion the narrative in a disjointed, unappealing style. We get to know the titular character through his stint in a rehab facility. We see hints of a troubled background and wounded psyche. A heavily tattooed Eric (Bill Skarsgard) meets Shelly (FKA Twigs), a fellow angst-ridden loner, who is also there to escape her own demons. The two strike up a companionship that eventually transcends life and death

Shelly’s past catches up with her as a business tycoon (Danny Huston) orchestrates her death and that of her protector Eric. Thereafter, its only a matter of time before Eric gets a new lease of life and has the chance to avenge his and his loved one’s death. But there’s a catch…

Eric’s transformation into the indestructible Crow gets only a cursory explanation. And we see him adjusting to his new-found abilities through the many futile attempts made to destroy him. Eric repeatedly visits his guide Kronos (Sami Bouajila) to understand the conditions of his resurrection, but there’s little for the audience to catch on to.

This film doesn’t match up to Alex Proyas’ 1994 film either in form or content. The tragic death of Brandon Lee might have given the original adaptation a halo of unsullied greatness, but that film wasn’t a great work of art by any standard. Brandon Lee did show us, through his work in it, that he had great potential as a future action hero. Alas!

Proyas’ film began with the murder of the couple, but Sanders chooses to expand on the romance and sets up the first half as an ode to their love. Unfortunately, it’s done in such a fleeting, disjointed fashion that the audience feels completely alienated from what’s happening on screen.

Danny Huston as the main villain, Vincent Roeg, a business magnate who gained supernatural powers years earlier by making a literal deal with the devil, is effective enough. Skarsgard, though, fails to lend meat to his broody after-life persona, leaving an impression of a heavily made-up caricature.

Sanders’ film is neither gritty nor edgy, so the approach doesn’t exactly befit the source material. The set design and cinematography are top-notch. The action visuals are vivid and blood-soaked, but even with the operatic and heavy-metal background score infusions, they tend to leave you cold and unaffected. The supernatural connection is just not convincing enough. There’s neither atmosphere, nor mood here. The narrative feels rather tiresome. It uses montage flashes without much emotion.

The audience can only feel disinterested.