Posts Tagged ‘FKA Twigs’

THE CROW: 2 STARS. “‘The Crow’ is back, but, unfortunately, never really takes flight.”

SYNOPSIS: “The Crow,” a re-imagining of the classic gothic superhero series of the same name, sees troubled souls Eric Draven (Bill Skarsgård,) and Shelly Webster (FKA Twigs) become soulmates after escaping from a rehab center. On the run from bad man Vincent Roeg’s (Danny Huston) violent thugs, the pair form an unbreakable bond, even in death. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Draven navigates the worlds of the living and the dead to seek vengeance against her killers. “Kill the ones who killed you, and you will get her back.”

CAST: Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs, Danny Huston, Josette Simon, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, Isabella Wei, Jordan Bolger. Directed by Rupert Sanders.

REVIEW: “The Crow” is back, but, unfortunately, never really takes flight. Director Rupert Sanders and cinematographer Steve Annis create a beautiful, neo-noir gothic canvas as a backdrop to the story of the power of love as a tool for revenge, but no amount of atmosphere can make up for spotty storytelling and murky mythology.

The film’s first forty minutes, the story of star-crossed lovers Eric and Shelly, drags as the two meet, flirt and get to know one another. Trouble is, sparks don’t exactly fly. The basis of the story is immortal love, one that cannot be broken by anything, even death, and yet their courtship feels impetuous, not particularly romantic. That lack of chemistry blunts the effectiveness of the movie’s emotional foundation and delays the start of The Crow ‘s story until midway through the film.

As for the action, it does deliver some OTT John Wick style violence, but I wouldn’t call this an action movie. The action is used sparingly, relegated to two big set pieces. Of those, it’s the opera house sequence that delivers the cathartic, nasty kills fans might want. It’s gross and gory as Draven gives new meaning to the question, “Why don’t you smile?” (You’ll know what I mean when you see the movie.) It goes for it, delivering the straightforward revenge vibe you expect, but it also makes you wonder why the rest of the movie doesn’t have the same energy or comic book sensibility.

Skarsgård is suitably angsty, and can handle himself in the action scenes, but despite his best efforts, the specter of Brandon Lee’s indelible performance in the original cult classic looms large over this version.

“The Crow” suffers from a lackluster villain (the usually reliable Danny Huston) and slow pacing, but its worst crime is that for a movie about soulmates, with a baddie who dooms souls to hell, “The Crow” feels soulless.

HONEY BOY: 4 STARS. “a testament to art as a tonic to heal wounds.”

Written as an exercise while in rehab, Shia LeBeouf’s script for “Honey Boy” is a biographical piece about growing up as a child actor with an addicted former rodeo clown and Vietnam Vet father who didn’t always have his son’s best interest in mind. By turns touching and bleak, tender and therapeutic, the film is a testament to art as a tonic to heal wounds.

LeBeouf’s alter ego is Otis, played as a twelve-year-old by Noah Jupe, a twenty-two year-old Hollywood stunt man by Lucas Hedges. We first meet him as a young adult on his way to court-ordered rehab after an altercation. There he begins putting pen to paper as a way to come to grips with an unconventional young life.

Cutting between present day and the events of a decade before, “Honey Boy” documents twelve-year-old Otis’s relationship with his unpredictable father James (LaBeouf). James is a frustrated and frustrating burn-out who relies on his son financially. He is the very embodiment of a man “doing the best he can” with his son, but it’s not nearly enough. Otis, an innocent, is forced to grow up fast, to define his love-hate relationship with James. He imagines telling his old man, “I’ve always been waiting for you to act like a real dad,” but, instead he says, “You work for me. I’m your boss.”

“Honey Boy” is about a terrible relationship but it isn’t an angry movie. LeBeouf’s script and the direction of Alma Har’el, capture a heartbreaking melancholy of a father who never recovered from having his dreams shattered. Otis may say “The only thing my father gave me of any value was pain,” but there is empathy in the words and in LeBeouf’s portrayal of James. He’s abusive, drunk, prone to violence, but he’s broken and knows no other path. It’s not an excuse, simply an observation. “Stop bringing up the past,” James tells Otis. “I can’t get out from under it.”

The film’s coda, an earnest reckoning between father and son, sheds light on the aftermath of their abusive relationship. It’s here “Honey Boy” shows its greatest compassion for a damaged person. Raw and powerful, it’s father and son coming to an understanding after a lifetime of turmoil. When James says, “As you get older you get to learn about life. You get to know where you come from,” it feels like LeBeouf’s acceptance of their relationship. The choice of closing credit song, Bob Dylan’s “All I Really Want to Do” reinforces the feeling.  “All I really want to do,” Dylan rasps, “Is, baby, be friends with you.”