The Crow

The 1994 cult superhero film, The Crow, is sadly known more for the tragedy surrounding it rather than its own material. This isn’t to say that it went under the radar, as the film was a sleeper hit at the box office when it was released, grew a cult following and even spawned off into a franchise, but most people who are familiar with the film remember it for the tragic passing of the lead, Brandon Lee, who died on set whilst filming the picture. After they wrapped up shooting through the use of a body double and digital effects to complete the scenes he wasn’t able to finish, Paramount (who originally owned the distribution rights) opted out of releasing it due to the messiness of the situation, and it was later picked up by Miramax who oversaw the film’s completion. While it is hard to erase such an awful situation from your mind while watching this movie, it doesn’t distract away from the product turning out pretty solid. In the crime-ridden city of Detroit, a young woman named Shelly is raped and left for dead by a gang of criminals, and her fiancé, Eric Draven (played by Brandon Lee) is stabbed and thrown to his death. Police sergeant Daryl Albrecht (played by Ernie Hudson) oversees the crime scene and tends to Shelly, but she later dies in the hospital. Once a year passes, Eric is suddenly risen from the grave by a mysterious raven with the power of immortality, now being impervious to any form of direct damage. Adopting a new vigilante identity, he plans to go after the criminals who killed him and Shelley. As this is going on, Albrecht, along with a young girl named Sarah (played by Rochelle Davis) who knew both Shelly and Eric prior to their murders, learn about Eric’s strange and unnatural resurrection and try to help him in his crusade against those that wronged him, which puts them all in the eye view of Top Dog (played by Michael Wincott), the leader of the crime gang who killed Eric who will do whatever it takes to put him back in his grave. The Crow feels like standard fare for a comic book film even of the era, and even though components of the story, characters and script are pretty lacking, the direction, acting, and overall production value makes it a pretty cool flick all these years later.

The story is based on a 1989 limited comic series written by James O’Barr, who wrote it in a time of grief after his finance was tragically killed in a drunk driving incident. The death of Brandon Lee would get O’Barr to admit that he wished he never wrote the comic in the first place, but its niche popularity was strong enough that it birthed a public awareness which resulted in enough hype for a film to get considered. With its dreary vibe, gothic atmosphere, scuzzy characters that teeter the line of being mentally broken and just purely insane, and a plot that feels incredibly familiar and not the most original but has enough aggressive bite and stylish execution to make it feel a little more memorable, a movie in the mid-1990s felt like a perfect spot for this picture to thrive in, and it managed to do so in spite of surrounding issues. While it could so easily dive deep into the angsty nature of the story (as well as the time period) and feel like a dated mess, the film is smart enough to only take select elements like the edgy tone and grizzly look when including the 90s aesthetic, instead of the usually lame tropes like the whiny characters, lame dialogue and being dark and broody for the sake of being ‘’cool’’. This is a story that is appropriately grizzly and harsh, and while the film isn’t really clever enough from a writing standpoint to back up said tone with effectively gripping material that could be both sombre and emotionally resonant, the directing by Alex Proyas is well handled enough that it still gives the film a unique identity. Proyas would go on to direct films like I, Robot and more fittingly in connection with this film, Dark City, which explains how he was able to bring a crazed stylistic edge to this picture which allowed it to be dark, dirty, and unpleasant without going too far to the point of feeling exploitative or generically displayed. While the screenplay by David J. Schow and John Shirley certainly isn’t great with sometimes generic dialogue and characters that can be on the boring side at times, it’s not to the point of having noticeably lame elements so it manages to survive unlike other superhero films of the time. The film also did have to do a lot of reworking done after Brandon Lee’s death, and you can feel that particularly during the opening of the film. With rewrites done by Walon Green, Terry Hayes, René Balcer, and Michael S. Chernuchin, a narration being added in to explain certain contextual clues, and keeping Brandon Lee’s face covered during a majority of the flashbacks in order to obscure the effects and the body double (which was done by Lee’s stunt double and future action director, Chad Stahelski), you can feel some of the awkward workarounds that needed to be made, but they don’t carry over into the rest of the film or negatively impacted anything to a noticeable extent.

For such a fresh actor, the loss of Brandon Lee was truly a shame as much like his father, Bruce Lee, there were multiple missed opportunities after his passing that would never get the chance to be showcased. While Bruce Lee made a name for himself as an extremely capable martial arts and charismatic personality, Brandon Lee (from the brief showcases of his acting abilities) proved to also be charming and have a likeable screen presence but felt very different from his father as well. His role as Eric Draven could very easily be too edgy, one-note and only run by cold action quotes rather than a distinct identity, but the manner in which he plays this character is refreshingly bizarre, adopting a chaotic and even weirdly chipper demeanor during his moments interacting with criminals that make him hypnotically engaging, but also legitimately threatening. His mannerism and facial expression almost border on something that a comedic actor would provide, yet his creepy look (which comes through even underneath the heavy metal-esque make-up) and disturbed persona makes him a gripping action star as well. It’s a tragedy the world lost him so early before he had the chance to show what else he could do, but it’s nice that his last showcase was this strong. The rest of the cast, even if they are played in a very tropey way, are mostly well acted, and really make this world feel like a comic book universe in a good way. While some are a little too noticeable like Marco Rodríguez as a shouty detective who is a little too irritatingly one-note, and some of the criminals like Jon Polito and Angel David who are also a little too over-the-top loud to feel effective, the rest of the cast actually do a good job making this world feel gritty, but still lively enough to prevent things from totally feeling brow-beaten. Ernie Hudson proves to be as effectively charismatic and smooth as ever as the cop trying to help Eric out, Rochelle Davis isn’t the best as Sarah and the character isn’t that interesting but she’s never annoying to be around either, some of the actors within the criminal gang like David Patrick Kelly, Laurence Mason, Michael Massee, Tony Todd and Bai Ling have a memorable look and screen presence, and while Michael Wincott’s character has a ridiculous look and shares no connection with the lead outside of a throwaway line near the end, the acting is honestly fine for what is required.

You can tell this movie doesn’t have the biggest budget, as even though the shown budget was about $23 million (which isn’t huge but is still enough for what they were hoping to portray), that was actually the number after they were given an extra $8 million in order to complete the production (making the true original amount about $15 million). This does shine through as the movie does have a cheaper look to it, with environments that always look like a set, lighting that is way too over lit and overexposed to ever feel properly composed, and camera work that at times can be a little shaky and hard to see when in close up. With that said though, while these are noticeable qualities, they actually don’t ruin anything about the movie and if anything, sometimes assist in giving it more of an identity. The production design by Alex McDowell does a great job at effectively capturing the decrepit, run-down nature of this street and city, whether it’s through the alleyways that are showered in constant downpours, living quarters that look cramped and like they’re about to fall in on themselves with shattered glass and damaged hardware peppered all around, or nightclubs that leave no room for breathing and only exists to flare up lights and attract unwanted company. The camerawork by Dariusz Wolski at first might look a little strange, with tracking shots that look like something out of a video game, but the more the film goes along, it starts to get some more fun angles that look like something ripped right from a comic panel through stylish angles and wonderfully framed imagery, it looks pretty cool and even underneath the harsh shadows and overexposed lighting, it doesn’t feel like the stuff in focus is hard to point out. Most of the action isn’t too bad either, with fights that aren’t the most well thought out or have the best choreography but features a few cool shots and set pieces that do stay in your mind after they’re finished. The soundtrack is also refreshingly nice, avoiding the expected hard-rock and angsty sound that would usually be included in these late 90s superhero flicks, and instead goes for a more melancholic choir score from Graeme Revell that adds a tragic ethereal quality to this story and this film. It still has some expected metal songs, but it’s really only used in the opening and considering the main character was a former rock musician, it at least makes a bit more sense and doesn’t just feel like a dated aspect forced in to appeal to a mainstream audience.

The Crow might sound like a film that only managed to stand the test of time due to Brandon Lee’s tragic passing poisoning the movie’s legacy in a way that made it memorably timeless for a much longer period than necessary, but thankfully the film as a whole honestly isn’t too bad for the genre it’s in and the time period it was made in. Considering the comic book flicks that were coming out around the time, it’s nice that this movie was able to stand out, have a distinct look and style, and be able to create a franchise for itself (even if the follow up films are considered some of the worst movies of their years). It is hard to scrub the obvious out of your mind when watching it (especially given the subject matter of the story), but during a time when every comic book movie was overly moody and dark without the content to back it up, here’s a film that actually has a reason. With good direction, pleasing visual design and solid performances (especially from Brandon Lee), The Crow is a good film and acts as a pretty nice final goodbye to someone who the world lost way too soon.