The CrowAdapted from the comic book by James O'Barr, The Crow tells the story of Eric Draven (Brandon Lee), dead one year and returned from the grave to avenge his own murder, and the murder of his fiancee, Shelley Webster (Sofia Shinas), at the hands of four vicious criminals, which in turn leads him to the mastermind behind the infamous Motor City pre-Halloween celebration, Devil's Night...the diabolical kingpin, Top Dollar (Michael Wincott). Eric is survived by a young friend, Sarah (Rochelle Davis), who recalls the legend of "The Crow" via narration, and is allied with Sergeant Albrecht (Ernie Hudson), the lone cop who believes in Eric's resurrection.
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The Crow is directed by Alex Proyas, a filmmaker with a unique talent for portraying shadows darker than dark in his work, a visual style that gives the film a quality akin to a film noir...like a black-and-white indie comic, but in color. This stylistic flair is no coincidence, given the source material was a black-and-white indie comic. The Crow debuted in 1994, an era in the midst of a blossoming of comic book movie adaptations, drawn from a multitude of highly varied sources. Whereas many other comic book movies attached themselves to Sunday serials and superheroes, The Crow shares more in common in inspiration with the contemporary music scene, at the peak of industrial rock, heavy metal, and alternative grunge. The soundtrack for The Crow is more than just a collection of hot songs of the day--the music is integral to the feel, the soul of the film, and the film is edited and constructed around many musical selections; gothic rock band, The Cure, even composed the stirring theme for the film, "Burn". However, unlike a strict musical, the music and editing give the film a quality reminiscent of MTV music videos, filled with quick images, flashbacks, and of course, the accompanying score that tells a side of the story all its own. The Crow is a stylish revenge tale, dealing with mystical powers, bloody gunfire and explosions, and a proliferation of wet, black leather and creative deaths. But the film also has a sense of humor--a dark one, yes, but enough to give you a knowing smirk. The humor is often disarming when it occurs, but is in keeping with Eric's character. While Eric is functionally a goth super hero, his face paint also represents him as something of a jester, also in keeping with his previous life as a musician in a rock band called "Hangman's Joke". The portrayal of Eric as--what Albrecht calls a "mime from Hell"--also makes him something of an inverse to the popular comic book villain from "Batman", The Joker. While The Joker is a lunatic who kills innocent people, Eric is an all-too sane man who executes the clearly guilty. In this way, The Crow also plays out for the majority of the film like a slasher movie--but in a slasher flick, the victims are fundamentally innocent; in The Crow, our hero is the killer.
Like many other adaptations of comic books in the '90s, The Crow is presented in an ultra-stylized way, exaggerated just enough to appear slightly outside reality. Watching the film again, I realized that many of the special effects do not come across as terribly realistic; however, it is reasonable to assume that this, too, is a conscious decision on the part of Alex Proyas--whose films carry a distinct, Expressionist style--to give the film just enough of a surreal vibe to let us stomach some of the exaggerated portrayals of criminals so outlandish, they spend their off time doing shots with bullet chasers in a dive bar, and heroes who load shotguns with engagement rings in lieu of buckshot. But the exaggerated characters and gunplay is a sharp contrast with the bleak, dark, and corrupt doppelganger of Detroit, making it similar--but uniquely different from--other gothic comic book adaptations of the era...those it grew from, and the imitators that would follow. And The Crow developed a real cult following, especially in its day among the youth and disenfranchised who felt that they were patronized by invincible heroes like Superman and the like, who wouldn't be able to appreciate their inner angst--the hard rock score and dour humor of The Crow was a welcome antiseptic to squeaky clean heroes and insipid sidekicks. The Crow would welcome the outsiders and rejected into its fold, and its fans would represent their allegiance with black trenchcoats, black-dyed hair, and start learning riffs on the electric guitar to the tune of Nine Inch Nails and The Jesus and Mary Chain. So in this way, The Crow represented a kind of counter-culture hero in and of itself. And while the film conveys a moral lesson about goodness and innocence, it does not attempt to spread a veneer of patronizing banality across the tongues of the audience--the film respects its audience enough to be able to understand the difference of reality and fantasy without hollow platitudes. The Crow would end up being the last film that Brandon Lee would ever make, having lost his life as a result of a tragic accident in the filming of this movie. Many people have said that not only was his death a tragic loss of life, but of a great talent, who would have succeeded his father--the illustrious Bruce Lee--as a charismatic and skilled actor. The Crow would be Brandon Lee's legacy, but what an outstanding, memorable legacy it is.
Recommended for: Fans of dark action and sharp visuals amidst a gritty, urban backdrop of crime and violence, but occasionally spiked with black humor and a touching story of love, where revenge is the only resort left to a shadow returned from beyond the grave to bring justice to the fallen.
Like many other adaptations of comic books in the '90s, The Crow is presented in an ultra-stylized way, exaggerated just enough to appear slightly outside reality. Watching the film again, I realized that many of the special effects do not come across as terribly realistic; however, it is reasonable to assume that this, too, is a conscious decision on the part of Alex Proyas--whose films carry a distinct, Expressionist style--to give the film just enough of a surreal vibe to let us stomach some of the exaggerated portrayals of criminals so outlandish, they spend their off time doing shots with bullet chasers in a dive bar, and heroes who load shotguns with engagement rings in lieu of buckshot. But the exaggerated characters and gunplay is a sharp contrast with the bleak, dark, and corrupt doppelganger of Detroit, making it similar--but uniquely different from--other gothic comic book adaptations of the era...those it grew from, and the imitators that would follow. And The Crow developed a real cult following, especially in its day among the youth and disenfranchised who felt that they were patronized by invincible heroes like Superman and the like, who wouldn't be able to appreciate their inner angst--the hard rock score and dour humor of The Crow was a welcome antiseptic to squeaky clean heroes and insipid sidekicks. The Crow would welcome the outsiders and rejected into its fold, and its fans would represent their allegiance with black trenchcoats, black-dyed hair, and start learning riffs on the electric guitar to the tune of Nine Inch Nails and The Jesus and Mary Chain. So in this way, The Crow represented a kind of counter-culture hero in and of itself. And while the film conveys a moral lesson about goodness and innocence, it does not attempt to spread a veneer of patronizing banality across the tongues of the audience--the film respects its audience enough to be able to understand the difference of reality and fantasy without hollow platitudes. The Crow would end up being the last film that Brandon Lee would ever make, having lost his life as a result of a tragic accident in the filming of this movie. Many people have said that not only was his death a tragic loss of life, but of a great talent, who would have succeeded his father--the illustrious Bruce Lee--as a charismatic and skilled actor. The Crow would be Brandon Lee's legacy, but what an outstanding, memorable legacy it is.
Recommended for: Fans of dark action and sharp visuals amidst a gritty, urban backdrop of crime and violence, but occasionally spiked with black humor and a touching story of love, where revenge is the only resort left to a shadow returned from beyond the grave to bring justice to the fallen.