The Crow (1994)

"It can't rain all the time."

Way back in 1994, a small comic book adaptation made headlines when the star, Brandon Lee, was accidentally shot and killed. The production was thrown into turmoil, and the final product was released as the country mourned a rising star. It shouldn’t have been good, except it was.

This review contains some minor spoilers relating to characters and the general plot and theme for this film. But it is thirty years old, so if you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend you see it before reading.

I will fully admit I watched The Crow on a loop when I was a teenager. It is the perfect angry teenager film, complete with a power fantasy of revenge that was both satisfying and cathartic. Yet, after thirty years and I don’t even know how many attempts, it stands alone as the one good entry in a series of utter failures. And that means it has to have something going for it beyond the tragic death of Brandon Lee.

Well, let's start there. Brandon Lee is The Crow. As Eric Draven he is totally sympathetic as a man who was just trying to live his life when it is ripped away from him. He’s a man removed from reality, trying to make sense of what happened to him, while also getting a chance to ‘put the wrong things right.’ It was a career-defining performance for Lee, and likely would’ve jump started his career had it not been cut short.

This performance is bolstered by some really great dialogue work, I can recite at least a dozen of incredibly quotable lines all delivered with the appropriate tone. But the writing and even a lead actor performance isn’t enough to completely carry a film. What truly makes this movie a cut above is the absolutely pitch perfect performances by the supporting cast.

Starting with Eric’s allies, we have Sarah (played by Rochelle Davis) who both narrates the film and serves as almost a walking plot guide. Her slightly cracking voice full of sadness adds a strange level of pathos and heart to the entire film from beginning to end. Her opening and closing lines give us the whole point of the story. Which was also a product of necessity because filming had been cut short due to Lee’s death.

Then there's Officer Albrect played by Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), who is a good and honest cop in a city where no one cares anymore and the police force is overwhelmed and defeated. It is stated early on that the annual fires set on ‘Devil’s Night’ are often left burning because the infrastructure of the city is so downtrodden. Albrect serves as the moral authority, someone who slowly learns what Eric is and why he is there. Through a natural progression of interaction Albrect reluctantly agrees that Eric is doing the right thing, despite the moral ambiguity of revenge. It is an important inclusion, as otherwise the movie is just violence for the sake of violence.

Then there are the villains. From the absolutely wonderful Tony Todd and Michael Wilcott, to the creepy performance by Bai Ling, the villains ooze menace and danger. There is also the street gang who are also quite memorable, from Lawrence Mason as Tin Tin to David Patrick Kelly as T-Bird. They are all unique with distinct behavior and even speech patterns.

Yet, it is each villain's interactions with Eric that are so engaging and the best scenes in the film. While each is evil, without much ambiguity, there’s something tragic underlying each of them. They give just enough in their performances to make you wonder how they ended up being these horrible people. While not sympathetic in any way, they have just a bit more depth than your standard action movie stumbling blocks that our main character has to defeat.

Then there is Darla, Sarah’s mom, who is a deadbeat and a heroin addict and a perfect example of a horrible mother. This kind of character would usually be an afterthought, but this movie goes out of its way to give her an arc of her own. It’s not a make or break part of the movie, but it highlights why this is a different kind of film. It isn’t just well plotted, it is tightly plotted. Every character has a purpose, even ones that seem secondary.

Of course this is also an action film based on a comic book, and to be clear, this is an R-Rated revenge film with some pretty disturbing imagery. So how does that hold up? Well, there’s a reason Brandon Lee was chosen for the film. The son of the great Bruce Lee, Brandon has some serious action presence. He fills the room whenever he is on screen, as both the focus of the action and the obvious center of attention. He moves with personality, as though he’s inhabiting this character through punches and kicks. He injects Eric’s sense of humor into the action too, despite being intense and at times scary in his quest for revenge.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the soundtrack, which featured an incredible list of grunge, industrial and heavy metal artists that made it one of the best soundtracks of the time. It topped the Billboard charts and featured some bands that heavily influenced the original comic book. Personally, the Stone Temple Pilots song ‘Big Empty’ still occasionally lives in my brain rent free on a loop. Yet it was how the music was used in the film that made it work so well. Through a mix of diegetic and no-diegetic placement, the music pushes the story forward just as much as the characters and action.

Bits:

The original death sequence for Eric was ditched because it was the scene where Brandon Lee was shot. The gun that was used by the actor who pulled the trigger had a round lodged in the barrel, which dislodged when a blank was fired at Lee. This event caused some legislation and gun safety practices on film sets to be changed, and it is still a problem to this day.

This was one of the early examples of CGI being used to create a performance, as some scenes of Lee were transposed onto different backgrounds and his face was superimposed over a stunt double for one of the more iconic shots in the film. While the necessity was deeply unfortunate, I feel it contributed to the tone and overall power of the story being told.

Alex Proyas was the director and it was his first time in the chair on a major motion picture. He went on to direct Dark City, which is one of my favorite films of all time.

Quotes:

Top Dollar: "Childhood's over the moment you know you're gonna die."

Eric: “Mother is the name of god on the lips and hearts of all children.”

Albrecht: “Police! Don't move! I said, ‘Don't move!’.”
Eric: “I thought the police always said, ‘Freeze!’.”
Albrecht: “Well, I am the police, and I say, ‘Don't move’ Snow White. You move, you're dead.”
Eric: And I say, ‘I'm dead,’ and I move.”

Top Dollar: “Greed is for amateurs. Disorder, chaos, anarchy: now that's fun!”

Albrecht: “Great. A guy shows up looking like a mime from Hell and you lose him right out in the open. Well, at least he didn't do that walking against the wind shit, I hate that.”

The Crow might’ve been made immortal by the death of its star. But it was good because it was the sum of some really great parts.

4 out of 4 Justified Acts of Revenge

Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.

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