Review of The Crow (1994) by Sean N — 17 Jun 2011

The Crow is a perfect example of a good cult film, the film that's not really a huge hit among critics or moviegoers but maintains a following among its fans. Other examples of cult films can include Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure or Equilibrium. However you can argue that this film actually was well received by critics and do pretty good at the box office (144 million might not seem much today, especially seeing how this was only the 24th highest grossing film of the year, but seeing how this film was made on a 15 million (7 million in reality before the tragedy that hit this film's lead) dollar budget I'd say that's a pretty good return). So putting the cult thing aside, what makes this film so good? Well as one internet reviewer (SWAGshow on Youtube) pointed out, this film is pretty much was The Dark Knight before that even came out. That's pretty much how I describe this movie also... as the 90's Dark Knight because you can see a lot of similarities between this film and Dark Knight, mainly when looking at the performance of the late Brandon Lee, who might remind some people of a certain performance from Dark Knight.

The film opens up on Devil's Night (October 30th) as police investigate the murder of a couple who were to be wed the following day on Halloween, guitarist Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiance Shelly. The film then continues a year after the murders of Eric and Shelly when on the exact same night they were murdered, Eric arises from the grave because of an apparent myth that if a soul is dealt with a devastating moment before dying, then they would be brought back to life 'to set the wrong things right'. After learning that he is now immune to physical harm, Eric sets out to avenge the murders of him and his fiance by taking down a man known as Top Dollar (Michael Wincott), the crime boss in Detroit who led the group responsible for the murders.

Brandon Lee's performance as Eric Draven is the main reason why this film is so darn good, and as I said before, it could remind some people of a certain actor's performance in The Dark Knight. That person: Heath Ledger as the Joker. The similarities between Lee and Ledger's performance are plenty, even down to the fact that both died before their respected films came out. Heck, just look at a few shots of Lee in this film and tell me he doesn't look kind of like the Joker. While Ledger died after shooting Dark Knight, Lee tragically was killed during production of this film when a dummy bullet that got lodged in a prop gun hit him in the abdomen. Knowing this kind of makes you sad while watching this film, not just because he died, but because this film shows that he could've really had been a big action star. We are talking about the son of Bruce Lee here after all.

This film is directed by Alex Proyas, who is known now for directing films like Dark City and I, Robot. A film like this shows his dark style of filmmaking. That's another reason why you can say it kind of compares to The Dark Knight, or even the other Batman films (not counting the 60's film). Also give him credit because he had to do a lot to finish this film after Lee died. He does such a good job in that department that I'm sure you won't be able to tell when it's Lee or a stunt double.

The Crow is a brilliant action film (I honestly found no problems with it) and one of the best comic book adaptations of a film, especially in the time period it was made in because the 90's was when comic book films started to get rather bad. The film also stands as a testament to the late Brandon Lee who shines in not only in his final film, but the film that would've no doubt launched his career as an action star like The Big Boss did for his father Bruce.