Trailer:
“It’s simple then. Kill the crow and destroy the man.”
There is a sad story behind this iconic film, one that perhaps might be behind its push towards fame and its reservation on the shelf of classics. The film is not only Brandon Lee’s best known film, but also unfortunately his last. Son of superstar martial artist Bruce Lee (the man who beat up Chuck Noris), he continued the families run of bad luck when he was shot while filming a scene near the end of the films production. In a way it is almost creepy how the film deals with themes of death and returning from the otherworld, yet Brandon Lee did it time and time again within this films repeat viewings. It's first screening was probably akin to seeing him back from the dead.
The film opens on “Devils Night”, or rather the day before Halloween, when all the arsonists come out of the woodwork and light the town ablaze. That night rock star Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) is tossed out his high apartment window while his girlfriend is raped and beaten to death. The film is narrated by a little girl named Sarah who was good friends with them. She tells about the legend of the crow who stays with those who are too restless to pass into the afterlife.
Needless to say the legend holds a certain amount of truth. A year later The Crow arrives at Draven’s grave and awakens him. Being already dead Draven is granted with speed, agility, and invulnerability, enough to hunt down those who brought a quick end to his happy life. He paints his face like an ACDC outcast and sets off at the eve of Devils Night with the intent of finding justice and laying his soul to rest.
The film is downright gorgeous. The cinematography is dark forbidding and obviously well thought out. It has all the classic makings of artistic stylization. The city itself is an elaborate set piece that would even make the ghettos of Gotham seem like a high class vacation resort. The entire film is very dark and makes good uses of filters to show the mind state of its central character and the twisted nature of its settings.
Speaking of the central character Lee gives a career defining performance here, unfortunately that is more than a figure of speech in this case. He really could have gone on to a tremendous career had the proper precautions been taken during filming. In a kind of twisted, morbid way his death almost indirectly added to the film by forcing the makers to use more clever cinematography and effects to hide his features throughout the scene. In the same way the Spielberg has to use other effects while his model shark failed to work, The Crow also had to utilize new means to express the characters emotion without showing the face. It added more to the psychology of the character to see it expressed visually externally rather than through convenient and conventional facial expressions.
Though when Lee is on screen he does a phenomenal job with his role. He sells himself as a likable, friendly character who is destroyed and returns as a phantom, almost completely tainted by his drive for revenge. So much that he hardily even remembers his friends that are still alive. You can completely buy into his anger and his torment, making you root for his sometime morally grey goals even more than you normally would.
Two relationship constantly explored through the films is his friendship with Police Officer Albrecht and the little girl Sarah who used to look up at him almost as a father figure. Unfortunately Rochell Davis who plays Sarah has the most inconsistent performance. Of course that is always a risk taken when using child actors (anyone remember phantom menace?). She was far from horrible but some of her scenes did come off as insincere. Yet in the end she accomplished her purpose as being something keeping Draven from transforming into a complete monster.
Officer Albrecht is also an interesting figure. Similar to Berkowitz from the Punisher, he is someone struggling with deciding if he should be stopping Draven from seeking revenge or helping him. He also has his own guilt of being unable to protect him and his girlfriend, whom he watched die.
The villains here are well portrayed and interesting. You have the muscle that did the crime, those that unknowingly helped in it, and the mastermind behind it all. Top Dollar is the main villain and his main goal is two things. Make money and creat a state of anarchy. He is the man that invented Devil’s Night, order Draven’s murder, and is planning to burn the city to the ground just too prove he is not “part of the system”. He is menacing, collected and formidable foe, with a good performance and well written dialogue.
Overall the film is very well scripted, beautifully shot, and well acted. It still stands as a tribute to art house cinema combined with blockbuster action in the same sense as Watchmen and Inception. It is also a great memorial to a fantastic actor who left before his time was done.
FINAL RATING: 9.5/10- (95%)
Previous Day 17: The Punisher-
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