The Crow - Film Review

Since I saw Brandon Lee in Showdown in Little Tokyo (you can see my review for that here) and Laser Mission (my review for that one is here), I became interested in his legacy as I remain a fan of his father's work as well as Lee's own short filmography. Considering the fact that this was the film that forever placed Lee's name among the stars, I felt it necessary to finally check this one out too.

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Where You Can Find It: I saw this one on Amazon Video where it is available for rent/purchase.

General Information 
The Crow is an action superhero film that was released on 13 May 1994. The Crow was directed by Alex Proyas and distributed by Miramax Films with Dimension Films producing. The film was based on the superhero comic book series, The Crow, which was created by James O'Barr. I've never personally read (or even heard of) the comic book series, however this might be because it fell outside the more widely popular Marvel and DC Comics franchises. The film overall earned slightly over twice as much of its originally $23 million budget. The reviews for the film were generally positive, with some heralding the film as "Brandon Lee's greatest film." The film holds a Metascore of 71 on Metacritic with an 83% on the Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes.

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The comic book series remains open for future publications under IDW Publishing

On 31 March 1993, Brandon Lee died unexpectedly when he was shot in the chest with a dud round by a revolver that had been equipped with blanks. Part of the dud round had been lodged in the revolver's barrel, so that when the blank fired, the lodged round launched at Lee like a real round. He died at the age of 28 with his death being ruled an accident. Today, the film remains synonymous with Lee's passing and much of its lasting fame is likely due to this. Miramax Films injected an additional $8 million into the film (so the original budget was only supposed to be $15 million), in order for the film to properly pay homage to Lee's death. I have to admit that I was surprised by how well this film is edited considering its lead actor died before the shooting was completed. It's not perfect, but I think Lee's final act was done with respect. I will admit that I was a little uncomfortable watching some of the film's action scenes though, as I couldn't help but wonder which scene might have been the one where Lee met his untimely end. Obviously, I didn't expect them to keep the scene that he was killed in, but I was somewhat heartened to know the entire scene was removed from the film, which explains why the plot starts so abruptly.

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Brandon now rests by his father as part of a dynamic duo who both left their marks on cinematic history

The Story

On the day before Halloween in Detroit, MI, guitarist Eric Draven (played by Brandon Lee) was murdered alongside his fiancé, Shelly Webster. Exactly one year later, Draven is resurrected by a crow so that he can exact his revenge on his and his fiancé's murderers. Sergeant Albrecht (Ernie Hudson), of the Detroit Police Department, is the only police officer who remains interested in the year-old murders, so it doesn't take long before Albrecht discovers some type of white-faced phantom is hunting down the criminals of Detroit. 

The premise of this film's plot is incredibly simple as it's essentially a beyond-the-grave revenge tale where the villains are all irredeemable monsters that seemingly live to do evil things. Unfortunately, none of the antagonists are remotely interesting, while the external threats to Draven are never completely clear, so there's not much sense of stakes. With boring antagonists, much of the film must lean on Lee and Albrecht, and this only partially works.

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Lee is practically unrecognizable as the unstoppable phantom of Eric Draven

The most glaring issue in the film though is undoubtedly one that Proyas could not fix. As the film immediately opens with Draven already dead, we only get to see extremely brief glimpses of Draven's life with his fiancé, while the horror of Draven's and Webster's deaths are mainly conveyed via exposition. As a viewer, I would've been more interested in Draven's quest for revenge if I had seen more of his life prior to when he was killed. Unfortunately, it seems that the portions of the film dedicated to that were forever lost when Lee died, so Proyas had to do with the best that he could. It's an understandable flaw to be sure, and I won't hold it against him, but it definitely makes the film's opening jarring.

Special Effects/Atmosphere

When it comes to plot, this one is pretty thin, but it makes up for that weakness with an enormous sense of style. The Crow is widely regarded as one of the greatest influencers to usher in the grungy goth style that became so popular in the 1990s. We see this fairly early on as the set design is dark, broody, and grimy. The gothic version of Detroit is even bleaker than the Detroit of Robocop. The film's soundtrack only further enhances the overall atmosphere by featuring famous grunge bands like The Cure and Stone Temple Pilots.

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Style is the name of the game in this film

The special effects are also fairly good as there are plenty of shootouts, fight scenes, and explosions. I was particularly impressed with the pyrotechnics as arson is apparently a popular thing in Detroit. One thing that surprised me was the lack of overall martial arts choreography from Brandon Lee. He did a fine job in his fight scenes, but I'd argue that Blade (another 1990s grungy superhero film) featured far better choreography in comparison.

The Acting

In his previous films, Brandon Lee always stood out as someone who loved his job as the audience could clearly see he was having a ton of fun while filming. He was goofy and enthusiastic, while never ashamed to wink at the camera whenever possible. We see a much different version of Lee in this film though as he's much more serious and engrossed in his role. It's easily his best performance, however it saddens me to know that Lee's time in cinema came to such an abrupt end just as he was finding his center as an actor.

I think it is only through Ernie Hudson's sheer likability that I found myself not completely hating Sergeant Albrecht. It's clear that Proyas wants the viewers to use Albrecht as their proxy in the film's world, as well as to find Albrecht to be a sympathetic character, however this all falls flat as Albrecht comes off as dangerously incompetent and comically lazy. Albrecht willingly lets criminals roam free unchecked throughout parts of the film, while his encounters with Eric Draven feel incredibly forced. Considering the state of Detroit in this film, Albrecht is part of the problem, but I can't bring myself to damn his character completely as Hudson gives off a charm through the film that makes the viewer like Albrecht despite all of his flaws. I want to point all of this out as I don't blame Albrecht's failings as a character on Ernie Hudson, but more-so on Proyas and the casting director.

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Knowing Albrecht, his gun probably isn't even loaded...

I want to lastly discuss the inclusion of Michael Wincott in this as the villainous crime lord, Top Dollar. The most notable movie I've seen Wincott in was Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and his hammy performance alongside Alan Rickman was fun, but hardly perfect. Thankfully, Wincott sports an American accent this time around, but the lack of any tangible character traits beyond being evil gives him little to work with and makes him utterly forgettable. Although Top Dollar is indirectly involved with Draven and Webster's death, I think this movie's climax would've had more payoff if David Patrick Kelly's T-Bird had been the main villain.

The Best of the Best: Brandon Lee's performance as Eric Draven. I'd recommend just skipping any scenes that he's not in.

The Worst of the Worst: Sergeant Albrecht is such an awful policeman that I'd argue he's a side-villain in this film if it weren't for the fact that most of the characters in this film are side-villains.

Calhooey Score: 6/10 - Above Average

Would I Recommend?

The Crow is hardly perfect, but it certainly has plenty to offer. It is a superhero film for the age of when superheroes weren't all kid-friendly lightshows with required comedy. Any fan of grunge or gothic styles will appreciate this film, while 1990s movie fans will get a kick out of some of the more opulent fight scenes (if you liked Blade, you'll like this). This is very much a style-over-substance film, and part of me can't help but think that this is exactly how Brandon Lee would've wanted it to be.

-------------------------------------------------Spoiler Comments-----------------------------------------------------

• Rest in peace, Lee. Thank you for all the good times.
• I honestly feel bad for Michael Massee (who plays Funboy). Although it was entirely accidental, I have no doubt he carried the guilt of being the one that pulled the trigger on the revolver that ended up killing Lee. His filmography shows he continued to act after filming The Crow, but I can't imagine he past that experience. It appears he passed away in 2016, so I hope he found peace.
• One might notice that I failed to mention Rochelle Davis as Sarah. I honestly have little to say about her, as I found the street urchin character to be completely pointless. Her ties to Draven and Webster are told almost exclusively via exposition, with only a couple of times where she even interacts with Draven after he dies. Her character was uninteresting, so I had nothing of interest to say on her.
• Considering the types of customers Gideon caters to, you'd think he'd at least work behind a wall of bulletproof glass. It might not stop Draven, but I'd be astounded if gentlemen like Tin Tin and Funboy never pulled a knife/gun on him during one of their villainous haggling sessions.
• Speaking of Gideon, perhaps it was not wise for him to continue to insult the man that just pulled a sword out from a secret compartment in his bedroom.
• Apparently the undead can heal you of your drug addictions...
• I'm glad Top Dollar couldn't even take Skank seriously, but I think that this would've been a good time for Grange to remind the man that Top Dollar made the conscious decision of hiring him in the first place.
• I like to think that Albrecht went to jail by the end of the film. He was going through a divorce, recently demoted, and under investigation for misconduct (rightfully so too). His only witness that an undead guitarist killed a small army of arsonists is a street urchin that he occasionally placates with hotdogs. 

----------------------------------------------------References--------------------------------------------------

*AllMovie. (n.d.). The Crow film cover image. Retrieved from: https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-crow-v131155.

**Han, A. (2014, October 31). The Crow comic book image. Slash Film. Retrieved from: https://www.slashfilm.com/james-obarr-the-crow/.

***Conley, N. (2019, November 19). Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee gravesite image. Grunge. Retrieved from: https://www.grunge.com/175557/the-truth-about-brandon-lees-death/.

****Giphy. (n.d.). Eric Draven and crow gif. Retrieved from: https://giphy.com/explore/the-crow.

*****Giphy. (n.d.). Burning crow gif. Pinterest. Retrieved from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/566468459371809990/.

******Daebom. (n.d.). Albrecht gif. Tumblr. Retrieved from: https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/albrecht?sort=top.