The Crow
directed by Alex Proyas
directed by Alex Proyas
This 1994 goth action/horror/romance film was the actor Brandon Lee's breakthrough film. It would have made him a household name and likely raised his profile for many more lead action roles and who knows what else. Unfortunately it became Lee's epitaph. People could only wonder what might have been.
Another actor shot and killed Lee while the two were filming a dramatic sequence. The actor used a weapon that should have had blanks but via negligence had been loaded and misfired with a dummy round that still had primer. Lee had completed most of his scenes before his death so the director and producer finished the film, using other stand-ins and creative editing for work or dialogue that required Lee.
These events gave The Crow more somberness but it was already a dreary movie. The film was based on a comic book /graphic novel written by a man who was processing his emotions around the sudden random death of his fiancee. Combine that with some real life criminal events in Detroit and you have The Crow.
During the 80s and early 90s Detroit had a tradition known as Devil's Night. Devil's Night was more serious and dangerous than its forerunner Mischief's Night which was always the night before Halloween where kids played "tricks" on people.
The pranks became darker and costlier until arson became a reasonable expectation on Devil's Night. Things were so bad in the late eighties that international news crews began visiting Detroit in late October, hoping to report on fires.
Locals argued with each other as to how many Devil's Night fires were set by Detroiters and how many were set by non-Detroiters looking to make a quick buck via insurance. The Crow is set in Detroit during the height of the Devil's Night arsons.
The musician Eric Draven (Lee) and his fiancee Shelly (Sofia Shinas) have been murdered on Devil's Night. Shelly was also gang raped. The two had planned to be married the next day. Eric and Shelly had been circulating petitions demanding higher standards from their landlord. The Big Bad didn't like that.
The only people who mourn Eric's and Shelly's untimely passing are the hulking but sensitive cop Albrecht (Ernie Hudson) and the semi-feral young girl Sarah (Rochelle Davis) who viewed Eric and Shelly as the parents she wished she had. Sarah's mother (Anna Levine) is a prostitute and junkie with little time for Sarah.
A year later a crow attends as Eric rises from the grave. Dressed in black with white face paint, Eric starts tracking down his murderers and dispatching them in inventive ways designed for maximum terror and publicity. Unfortunately for Eric's targets, Eric is immune to any of their weapons. But the Big Bad (Michael Wincott), his top enforcer (Tony Todd), and his incestuous lover (Bai Ling) have more expansive ideas on how to deal with the dead man spoiling their party.
The Crow is a visually and thematically dark movie. Though it's set in Detroit it was shot in North Carolina studios. The city doesn't look like Detroit. It looks like a gothic comic book city. The movie is influenced by older film noirs and films like Bladerunner. It's almost always raining. I think The Matrix also took a few things from The Crow. The style, lighting, and scenery are impressive. This movie doesn't look dated.
Though the story and plot are simple the film is elevated above the prosaic by Lee's intense portrayal of loss and grief. But never fear, the viewer could easily see the film's message as one of ultimate optimism. TRAILER
