Review of The Crow (1994) by Kevin I — 29 Jan 2013

This adaptation perfectly captures the mood and spirit of the comic. Its depictions of depression and violence are severely toned down compared to the book, but that's probably for the better, because if it matched the book in those regards, it would've gotten an NC-17 rating for sure.

Aside from a few characters switching names and/or places, and the manner in which Eric and Shelly were killed, the movie is largely faithful to its source. These changes do no harm the film either, and in fact are sometimes improvements (Top Dollar seems like a more fit name for a crazy mob boss than T-Bird, anyway).

Make no mistake, although this movie contains great amounts of action and violence, it is all justifiably driven by Eric, a tortured soul played brilliantly by Brandon Lee, in his final role. The violence is simply a result of Eric's circumstance, and comes across as more of a painful reality than mindless action.

The movie is very compelling, and does just about everything right, from its writing to its photography to its performances and score. Brandon and the filmmakers truly deserved all the praise they got for this film. It is easily one of the best films, let alone comic-to-film adaptations, ever made.