Review of The Crow (1994) by Derek N — 22 Aug 2011

There was a time before emo kids walked the land. For those of you born in the 90's, you may not remember this time as you were busy with your childhood pursuits, but for those of you who were alive (like myself) we remember the time before our guy-liner and girl-jeans wearing brethren and sisters, took pop culture by storm as the weird pariahs. We remember the period of the goths.

This is when The Crow was made. The Crow has since become a cult classic, mostly in part due to its origins as a comic book of the same name. The film itself is an interesting stylized vision on a small budget of the type that plagued comic book based movies in the 80's and 90's and thus the full scope of the comic is not really realized. It almost gets there though, and it is painful to watch as it struggles to show you a large metropolitan area through miniatures and very few outside locations that don't take place or weren't constructed on sound stages.

The acting is also of the borderline kind that one finds in the typical action movie. The hero doesn't say much, and the supporting characters' dialogue makes up for the rest of the plot, explaining why the lead character of The Crow is doing his so called 'thing'.

All in all though, it is a cult classic for a reason due to the aforementioned goth movement and the fact that The Crow was a goth anti-hero of sorts giving hope to all of the white and black face makeup wearing despondent youth that spent their time smoking cigarettes, listening to Nine Inch Nails or Marilyn Manson, and deploring life in general as being "too cheery" all while sitting in the dark. It is an interesting piece of cinema and a lasting monument as a tragedy concerning the death of a young actor at the start of his career. All in all, if you like mediocre action flicks based on comics, or if you just want a trip down memory lane when you used to paint your face, sit under the bleachers, and hate the jocks for calling you a 'freak', then this is the movie for you.