In my time at Bam Kapow I wrote multiple articles on the impending remake of The Crow. For those not in the know, The Crow was an early 90’s comic book action movie set (though not filmed) in Detroit, in which a spirit of vengeance comes back from the dead on Devil’s Night and rains havoc on the city’s worst scum. When I was 12 it was maybe the coolest thing ever. The lead character, Eric Draven, was played by Brandon Lee. The son of none other than the Legendary Bruce Lee.

In the movie Eric, who along with his girlfriend, had been killed the year before, and a mystical crow brings him back to exact revenge for the woman he failed to protect, his fiancée Shelly. He is impervious to pain and seemingly can’t die. He oddly befriends police officer Winston Zeddmore when he isn’t murdering people or scaring junkies into taking care of their kids.

He proceeds to hunt down the people who had a hand in destroying his happy life. From Steve Crosetti the pawn dealer that paid for Shelly’s jewelry to T-Bird (played by the guy in the video below), the gang leader that tossed him out the window to his death.  Eventually Eric works up the ranks to T-Bird’s boss ‘Top Dollar’, who is played by Michael Wincott, who is creepy in everything. It’s all very entertaining.

Tragically however, Brandon was killed while filming the movie, due to a mistake with the prop gun. This in truth probably added to the mystique and helped make it more of a success. It cost only $15 million to make, but grossed near $100 worldwide. And as someone who spent 5 years behind video store counters, I can tell you it did quite well in the VHS after market as well.

But like most good ideas, it was bogged down and played out by not 1, not 2, but 3 terrible sequels, and a remake in 2000 that like 54 people actually saw. It has a 3.9/10 on IMDb. All of these movies obviously absent the star of the first film.

Now, Hollywood, never to let something die is trying once again. This time the budget will surely exceed that of the previous 5 movies combined, as will the advertising. But with Lee in the grave for nearly 2 decades, who should portray our protagonist? Well, after years in development, we may have an answer to that.

Bradley Cooper.

Cooper is in talks, and appears to be set to play Draven in this most recent reboot. I don’t dislike Cooper by any means. He was funny in The Hangover and Wedding Crashers, and I always liked him during his days on Alias. But to be honest, I’m having trouble seeing this…

What do you think about this? I guess I’d be ok so long as it still takes place in Detroit and is shot here…