The Crow 30th Anniversary Review: A Dark and Stylishly Gothic Hybrid of Supernatural Action and Revenge Fantasy
With the long-gestating remake of The Crow currently set for August this year, it’s time to look back at the 1994 original, which happens to celebrate its 30th anniversary. It may have been three decades old but I still found it hard to believe that Brandon Lee, who was only 28 years of age, tragically died from the result of a prop gun loaded with a blank round and a dummy bullet with the primer remained intact. The impact fired from the bullet hits Lee in the abdomen. His death was due to the crew’s negligence, which eerily reflected the on-set accidental shooting nearly thirty years later that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during the filming of Rust.
Re-watching it today, Lee’s performance remains the heart and soul of the movie. It was his best role, proving he has excellent dramatic chops apart from his undeniable movie-star charisma and physical prowess. He would have made it big in Hollywood as an action star, had the on-set tragedy never occurred.
It’s hard to imagine anyone else to play Eric Draven other than Lee himself. The sadness in his eyes, combined with the mime-like playfulness in his character resurrected from death after a group of thugs (David Patrick Kelly’s T-Bird, Angel David’s Skank, Laurence Mason’s Tin Tin and Michael Massee’s Funboy) working for the crime boss, Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) killed him mercilessly. His fiancée, Shelly (Sofia Shinas) was raped and subsequently died in the hospital due to a serious injury. Lee truly owns the role and Bill Skarsgård has some big shoes to fill to play Eric Draven in the upcoming remake.
David J. Schow and John Shirley, who adapted James O’Barr’s 1989 comic book series of the same name, is essentially a simple revenge story. But it was beautifully told, thanks to Lee’s sympathetic performance and Alex Proyas’s atmospheric direction. The Crow may have been his only second feature but his extensive music video background, previously responsible for the likes of INXS’ “Kiss the Dirt”, Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and Yes’s “Rhythm of Love”, is put into good use. His dark and stylishly gothic visuals perfectly embodied the look and feel of the movie’s themes of grief, rage and death. He has an eye for moody lighting and colour that evokes a sense of dread and despair like a grunge version of Tim Burton’s Batman. The crime-infested city itself in the movie is more than just a background setting, where the seemingly unstoppable rain mirrors the good and bad characters.
The movie is equally notable for Graeme Revell’s ominous score while the soundtrack is one of the best I’ve ever heard in the ’90s. Well-curated songs like The Cure’s “Burn” and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult’s “After the Flesh” complement the movie. Lee may have been the scene-stealer here but let’s not forget about the rest of the actors, with solid supporting turns from Ernie Hudson as Sergeant Daryl Albrecht, Michael Wincott as Top Dollar and David Patrick Kelly as T-Bird.
It’s amazing how well the movie was put together in its finished product. Future John Wick director Chad Stahelski, a stunt double for Lee, became the stand-in to help complete the remaining production with the magic of digital face replacement, visual effects and prior footage. The Crow was a box-office hit, spawning three inferior movies including The Crow: City of Angels (1996), The Crow: Salvation (2000) and The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005).
