Title: The Crow
Director: Alex
Proyas
Released: 1994
Starring: Brandon
Lee, Michael Wincott, Ernie Hudson, Rochekke Davis, Bai Ling, David
Patrick Kelly, Angel David, Jon Polito, Tony Todd, Sofia Shinas,
Michael Massee, Laurence Mason
Plot: One year after
being murdered Eric Draven (Lee) is resurrected by the power of The
Crow to extract revenge on the gang who killed him and his fiancée
Shelly (Shinas)
Review: An iconic
cult movie for a number of reasons especially in terms of style and design aswell as the tragic death of leading man Brandon Lee in an event echoing the death of
his own father Bruce Lee. More so when this film much like “Enter
The Dragon” is frequently seen as the film which would have finally launched
Brandon into the mainstream having previously put in memorable turns
in “Showdown In Little Tokyo” and “Rapid Fire”. Certainly
for myself it was one of those films whose VHS cover drew me in long
before I knew anything about the film or it’s tragic and highly
problematic production as I discovered it of all places in my local
(and long since defunct) record store and since that initial
discovery has remained a film I still love to go back and revisit.
Based on the equally
cult comic book by James O’Barr who had originally wrote the
story as a way of dealing with his own personal grief when his
fiancée was killed by a drunk driver, while drawing further
inspiration for the story from a newspaper article he'd read about a
young couple who were killed in Detroit for a $20 engagement ring.
At the same time it should be noted that while the source comic is
still an incredible piece of work and certainly raw emotion with its
distinctive black and white illustration it’s not a piece which
works as a straight adaption. As such instead of following the source
material’s path of unflinching violent revenge between bouts of
Eric’s emotional torment we get a more traditional revenge movie
yet one which still retains the core elements of the source material.
Proyas brings the
world certainly to life here as he paints a crime riddled vision of
Detroit were it is almost permanently night and raining, only
allowing some colour into the world once Eric gets close to
completing his quest for revenge. Proyas had though originally wanted
to shoot the film completely in black and white and only use colour
for the flashback sequences which the studio unsurprisingly wouldn’t
get behind especially for what was already a risky concept. Still
while perhaps not the vision he had intended this city of almost
permanent midnight is still an effective playground for the story to
playout in.
While he might not
have been the first choice for the role of Eric with O’Barr citing
Johnny Depp as his personal choice for the role, while River Phoenix
and Christian Slater were also seen as being up for consideration
for the part. Brandon Lee though was of course much more of an
unknown talent and no doubt better known for being the son of a
famous martial artist than his previous films, but watching the film
now and seeing how he embodies the role of Eric its hard to see
anyone else in the role and even now after numerous sequels it’s
still Lee which we see as being the definitive embodiment of the
character. What further helps Lee’s portrayal of the character are
the moments of humanity he gets throughout rather than just being a
vessel for revenge on T-Bird and his gang and while the flashbacks
might be a little too smaltzy he does manage with these brief flashes
of his former life manage to give us an idea of who he was before he
became “The Crow”.
Considering Lee’s
background as a martial artist it might seem strange in the fact that
he doesn’t in fact get to do much bar a move here or there with the
film being much more focused on heroic gunplay. Were it does pay off
though is with his body movements and much like the casting of
dancers like Michelle Yeoh in Martial Arts movies here it equally
pays off as Eric is shown as moving with cat like movements
especially as he prowls the city roof tops in search of the gang
members on his list. The fact that he is so charismatic and hypnotic
in his performance is only an added bonus.
Opening on “Devil’s
Night” the night before Halloween were the city gangs cause acts of
vandalism and arson throughout the city, which surprisingly was
actually a thing in Detroit until the mid 90’s when it was Detroit
official's organised “Angel’s Night” were volunteer patrols
protect their neighbourhoods from arson attacks. Here though it’s
seen as a calling card for the city’s top crime boss Top Dollar
(Wincott) a minor character in the comic who here gets a promotion to
the film’s big villain which is only added to by the charismatic
Michael Wincott which might be his most iconic role to date outside
of voicing “Death” in “Darksiders 2” and as such has meant
that its always been kind of disappointing to see him frequently not
getting to play more of these kinds of roles in the films he’s made
since.
Top Dollar is really
the perfect sort of villain for this Gothic vision of Detroit as he
carries himself with the right amount of theatricality, while his
half-sister / lover Myca (Ling) helps to fill in the rules for the
crow by adding the subtle element of mysticism without the action
getting too fantastical, which really isn’t the easiest thing when
your essentially dealing with a supernatural force of vengeance. At
the same time the gang responsible for murdering Eric along with his
fiancée lead by the Milton quoting arsonist T-Bird (Kelly) are all
colourful and unique in their quirks which ultimately become the
tools of their demise and really add to this “Sin City” style
world which Proyas creates here and which he would carry across to
the criminally underrated “Dark City”.
The soundtrack
throughout really makes the film a time capsule of it’s release
with Proyas compiling a suitably grungy soundtrack featuring the
likes of Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine and the
Rollins band. Nine Inch Nails also fittingly provide a cover of the
Joy Division track “Dead Souls” tying the film further to the
source material. Proyas also features live performances by both
Medicine and My Life With The Kill Thrill Cult the later whose club
performance soundtracks the boardroom shoot-out. The only real
downside to the soundtrack is the use of “Burn” by the Cure which
is not down to the track which itself perfectly matches Eric applying
his harlequin styled face paint but rather the issues come with the
fact its a choppily edited version which really stands out if your
familiar with the track. Unsurprisingly the grunge / goth ascetic of
the film combined with the soundtrack which still holds up now saw
the film being often sold in record stores, which is certainly how I
first came across it were it was displayed amongst the VHS copies of
“REM: Road Movie” and “Nirvana Live Sold Out”.
A fantastic film
which unfortunately broke the mould so that any of the attempts to
expand the mythology through different souls either in the films
which followed or the numerous spin off comics / books none came
close to matching what Brandon Lee gives us with Eric more often than
not characters being left feeling like they were in some way
attempting to mimic his performance and or character. As such this
remains a beautiful curiosity and one which like any actor who dies
when they are just getting noticed if this would have been his
breakout film or not. Sadly we will never know but it remains a
fitting end note to go out on.
