When first released in 1994, The Crow came with a lot of baggage attached. Star Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, had died during the production of the film due to a mishap with a prop firearm. The producers and director Alex Proyas, who had largely finished the film, elected to reshoot a small amount and utilize emerging digital technology to composite Brandon Lee into a select number of scenes as well as using a body double in some cases. When it hit screens in May, critical reception was largely warm. From then until now, I have stood as one of the seemingly small cadre of individuals who found The Crow, Brandon Lee's tragic passing notwithstanding, to be considerably overrated, full of style, but largely hollow at the core.
For the most part, The Crow is a revenge film dressed up with mystical elements. One year after Eric Draven (Lee) and fiancé Shelly (Sofia Shinas) were killed in a violent home invasion, Draven is resurrected from his grave by the presence of a crow, which has seemingly returned his soul to him to avenge his and Shelly's murder. Draven runs into former friends along the way, including largely ignored young girl Sarah (Rochelle Davis) and police officer Albrecht (Ernie Hudson), whom he occasionally ponders life and death with. Draven's targets are a small group of criminals, led by T-Bird (David Patrick Kelley), who works for Top Dollar (Michael Wincott), the crime boss of Detroit. Draven begins working through T-Bird's crew to reach Top Dollar, but Dollar's girlfriend, Myca (Bai Ling), realizes the source of Draven's power is the crow, and Top Dollar plots to take Draven down.
The Crow's key weakness is the shallowness of the characters. While it is hard to know whether some aspects of the film were affected by Lee's death and subsequent re-editing, but both Eric and Shelly are largely ciphers, revealed to us only via very limited flashbacks, but not given much depth or development. We are supposed to feel for them because the screenplay requires it, not because of any genuine interest in them. Without this identification with the victims, it is almost impossible to be involved in the film on a visceral level. There are moments when their plight is moving, but those are few and far between. The rest of the time, The Crow is not really anything special. Draven, seeking retribution for his death and loss, mows down each one of T-Bird's henchmen, using their particular vices or skills to make for stylish deaths (One is impaled on a half-dozen knives, another overdosed on a plethora of hypodermic needles filled with drugs). Some of the action sequences are well staged, but rarely are they exciting or involving.
The film's villains are also a bit underwhelming. Wincott, as Top Dollar, has a terrific raspy voice that gives Top Dollar a degree of menace, but still comes up wanting as a memorable screen heavy. T-Bird and his co-horts are barely on screen enough to register, and since they are largely drug addicts, some of them flail about wildly and are almost caricatures, not characters. The film does provide some interesting moments as Eric reconnects with friends from a prior life, but those are just glimpses of a film that is more interested in sweeping camera shots and violent death scenes.
The Crow is also not exactly an upbeat film. It was based on a comic series by author James O'Barr who tragically lost his family, and The Crow was an attempt by him to provide some catharsis to those events. The Crow mediates on life and death at times, but the oppressiveness of the narrative occasionally threatens to swallow it. I am hardly one to shy away from films with downbeat material, to be sure, but without the character foundation to provide support, the darkness of The Crow sometimes seems a bit much.
Many gave Brandon Lee positive notices for his last performance in this film, and he is fairly accomplished in the role. While he isn't given a lot to work with, what moments of pathos The Crow offers are in many cases due to Lee's work. It was a shame and tragedy that he died so young, on the cusp of attaining stardom. The Crow was also the film that brought director Alex Proyas to the attention of American audiences, lensing the film in largely dark and dank environments, crafting an decaying urban environment that fits the narrative. Not many years after Batman, The Crow certainly appears to offer some degree of homage to the design of Tim Burton's breakthrough success. The Crow is a very stylish affair, but good looks without a strong narrative are nothing but pretty pictures.
The Crow is not a meritless film, and some moments work, but for the most part it smacks of a film that attracted a great deal of attention due to the controversy surrounding it than for its substance. The Crow would go on to be followed by one theatrical sequel, The Crow: City of Angels, which would prove abysmal, and then two other, direct to video sequels that few people probably realize ever existed. The original film is the crown jewel in that franchise, but the praise is misplaced from my point of view, affection for a film that didn't really deserve it, while its lead actor actually did. The Crow is an unfortunate end to a career, and life, cut far too short.
