Review of The Crow (1994) by Jesse C — 12 Sep 2015

The Crow has become kind of a cult phenomenon. It was director Alex Proyas' first 'real' movie and star actor Brandon Lee's last. I won't go into the tragic death of Lee in this review, that's a subject for another time.

Rooted deeply in an 80's vein of revenge-driven stories like the Dead Pool and Death Wish, this now 22-year-old film depicts a dark and dreary early 1990's and it does so very well. Yes, almost 25 years later it's dated. But not in such a way that it demands a re-make. This kind of film should stay in its own timeframe.

Of course the premise of this whole story is kind of ridiculous. It states that sometimes, just sometimes, a crow transporting a dead person's soul to the land of the dead will bring that person back to life, for vengeance's sake. For a rational cookie monster like me, that is hard to wrap my little head around.

The problem of this movie is not in the acting or the story, however. It's just that the thing is so damn sad and leaves you wishing that you had seen something more cheery.

Eric Craven (Brandon Lee) comes back from the dead to avenge his own and his fiancee's death. They were killed a year earlier at the hands of a gang of street thugs. Like the 80's movies mentioned earlier, he picks off his enemies one by one, all the while keeping an emotional connection to a street girl named Sarah (Rochelle Davis) and a weird kind of friendship with Sergeant Albrecht (Ernie Hudson).

When this movie starts, you know how it's going to end: not well. The production matches the mood of the story here: it's dark, dreary and ever so gloomy. I don't know what to recommend, to be honest. Don't watch it when you're happy, it will bring you down. Also don't watch it when you're depressed, it will only kick you down further.