The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus is the latest in a long line to be tipped to appear in The Crow, the reboot-cum-remake of the classic 1994 Brandon Lee vehicle of the same name. With Luke Evans having already been confirmed to star, it looks like Reedus will be taking on one of the film’s villain roles, though it’s uncertain which one he will play. If this remake is anything like the source material though (which means it’ll borrow from James O’Barr’s comic series, too), Reedus will at least have something to sink his teeth into.
The Crow has had something of a troubled production so far, with luminaries from Tom Hiddleston to James McAvoy having negotiated for the main role at one stage or another. It follows a series of sequels (plus that TV series no-one talks about) that haven’t been, to put it kindly, anything other than completely awful. The Crow: City Of Angels set the bar with its bizarre retelling of the first film’s story and since then the franchise has swallowed up and spat out Dennis Hopper, Kirsten Dunst and David Boreanaz in various roles, not to mention a bloated Edward Furlong leading the parade in The Crow: Wicked Prayer.
Personally, I don’t think a new entry in this long-suffering franchise can save its rep anymore. It’s past the point of no return. Alex Proyas’ superb original was a perfect amalgam of thespian idiosyncrasy and Gothic splendour obscured in smoke and steam, set to a superb alternative rock soundtrack and starring what it singularly evidenced as a giant in the making. Trying to top that will be a daunting task, no doubt.
Will the reboot of The Crow be able to recapture what made the original so great? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.