The Crow

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 “The Crow” must have seemed like a sure-fire hit when it was being made. What cemented it in film history and opened it up to a much larger audience than it might have initially reached, was the fact it’s main star was killed during filming. Not only that, but he was playing a character who was killed in the film and comes back to life to avenge his killers. And even more ironic, was that star was Brandon Lee; son of martial arts movie legend Bruce Lee, who also died around the time he was making a movie. Such mysterious circumstances for a film which could have plagued it from even seeing the light of day, but thankfully it did, and The Crow showed what a stellar movie it was, earning classic and cult-film status, and a legacy all of it’s own which continues to live on today. 

We open in a soaring view of a city in chaos. Fires burn, sirens wail, and the voice of a young girl narrates a story. That story is about the crow being the bird that carries the souls of the dead to the afterlife. But if that soul cannot rest, the crow can bring it back to put the wrong things right. Closing in on an apartment window, police scour the scene of a vicious attack. A young woman lies on the floor, beaten and bloody. And on the pavement six stories below, lies the body of her boyfriend. He is dead, but his body is being carefully watched over, by a crow.

One year passes. In the city of Detroit, crime runs rampant. The police are outnumbered, out-gunned and out of luck. It seems the criminals who cause the chaos and carnage every year on Devil’s Night (the night before Halloween) can’t be stopped. A year after the death of the young couple we meet at the start of the movie, these criminals are still destroying lives. But as the story goes, a soul with unfinished business, that just cannot rest, is brought back by the crow. That soul is Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) who awakens from a year in the ground to seek revenge on those who stole his life, and the life of his fiancé Shelly.

The crow acts as Eric’s spirit guide, leading him where he needs to go and helping him to discover his newly found strengths as a man back from the dead. After revisiting the scene of the crime, his former home, Eric readies himself. Donning black clothes and white face make-up, Eric is no longer a man, but rather The Crow, and one by one, begins to hunt down the men who ended his life. 

Being the son of Bruce Lee was always going to cast a big shadow for his heir to live in. But The Crow was the film to show audiences that Brandon Lee wouldn’t always be known as his fathers son, but a talented and compelling leading actor in his own right. A shame that no other films would follow this one for Brandon Lee. Having shot the majority of his scenes for the film, Lee only had a few days of production left. In the flashback scenes where he enters his apartment to discover the thugs attacking his fiance, his character was shot. During filming, a real gun with fake bullets was used, but one such bullet was not inspected properly; it still contained the primer that sent the half-bullet as it was known, through the chamber and out the end of the gun, with the same force and impact as a normal bullet. This struck Brandon Lee in the abdomen, and he was rushed to hospital. But after six hours of surgery to save him, the damage had been done and he died on the operating table.

A decision had to be made on whether the film would actually be completed. The writers came up with new scenes, and a body double was cast with Lee's face added onto him via CGI to film some unfinished action scenes. The film was dedicated to Lee and his fiancé, and premiered in theatres just a year over Lee was killed.

The Crow can also be attributed for launching the career of director Alex Proyas. Originally from Australia, Proyas now enjoys a self-made career in Hollywood as a director of the films most other directors dare not or cannot make, due to their complex visual styles and out-of-the-ordinary story lines. The Crow was his first feature film as director, and even with the tragic death of Lee at the centre of it's production, and the challenging task of finishing the movie without him, Proyas pulled it off, kick starting his career as a talented film-maker. 

Action. Adventure. Martial Arts. Thriller. Comedy. The Crow can claim all these genres, shifting easily from one to the next in an almost seamless way. Never overdone, simply told, but powerfully effective, there’s a lot to like about The Crow. Sure it’s very violent, but it has a lot of heart to it. After disposing of a bad guy, Eric takes a moment to dispense some wisdom to those standing by, sparing their life in exchange for a valuable lesson that teaches them to value their life.

The whole film is beautifully visualised; taking inspiration straight from the dark comic book on which it’s based, the film’s scenes move swiftly from start to end, enthralling you with their level of artistry and sophistication. The action scenes, whether they be fist fights, swordplay, car chases, shoot-outs or explosions, are done in a style all of their own. The Crow was no imitator, and thankfully, no movies I can think of have tried to imitate it. Unfortunately, it did give way to some pointless and poorly made sequels, and a short lived TV series. Should have left it alone. And now, they’re talking about remaking it. Noooooo. Not necessary. Leave the classics alone. Or, do what the film-makers of the 90’s did and work hard to come up with something original and creative, then you wouldn’t need to keep remaking previous works. But we live in the time of the remakes so what can you do?

As the criminals become victims to the vengeful hands of Eric, a street cop who investigated his murder, follows the clues at each criminals death scene. Unbeknownst to him, the new killer on the street he seeks, is the man whose body he found on the pavement that terrible night one year earlier. The cop has also spent the last year keeping an eye on young Sarah (the voice of the girl narrating at the start of the film), after she was left alone and grieving following the death of Eric and Shelley. 

One by one, the bad guys are taken down, but as their ruthless leader becomes aware of the situation, the task for Eric will become harder. Hunting down each of the four crims who killed him, Eric focuses in on the final one, but he’s being protected by his boss who tries to lure Eric into a trap. The stage is set for a climatic fight between Eric and the crime lord… 

The Crow came out at the perfect time for a generation of teenage movie goers who were looking for something different. It was the 90’s, so Schwarzenegger and Van Damme were reigning supreme. Sure, their actions films had their own style, but we wanted more. We knew of Bruce Lee and had seen a couple of his films, so as his son Brandon came onto the scene with movies like “Rapid Fire” and “Showdown in Little Tokyo”, also showing he had some martial arts skills of his own, teenage boys found a new action movie hero to watch. And in The Crow, he didn’t just strut his stuff, he broke new ground. Carrying the entire film, Lee showed he could act the part of a tormented soul back form the dead, as well as an Ass Kicking, Gun Firing, Wise Cracking Vigilante, putting his action movie counterparts in their place, and firmly stepping out of the shadow of his father. The future looked bright for this rising movie star, but as we all know, it was tragically cut short.

Dark, gothic, artistically inspired and visually poetic, this movie works on many deep, emotional levels, a far cut above most other action films, and a testament to it’s strength as a movie.

And although his career was short-lived, and The Crow was arguably his best and only great film, Brandon Lee did enough in his time to leave his mark. His time was not long, but his impact will live on through The Crow, for a long time to come. 

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