The Crow (1994)
There's no question this is a vigorous, crazy-violent, youth oriented, anti-establishment movie with a heart. It's utterly romantic in an almost childish way but thank god for that because parts of the movie--more and more of it as it goes--are about exacting revenge. For me, as exaggerated and fun as it is in a way, it still only goes so far.
But revenge is a good motive for action, and for bloody theatrical murder. Make no bones about it, the main character, this "Crow" person who has the worldly name Eric Draven (played by Brandon Lee) is a murderous hunk of a dude. He's an archetype of selfish lawless justice.
The film is dark dark dark. The mood is dark, the lighting is dark, and the sets are made of dark things--wet pavement at night, blackish brick and empty alleyways, and dark clothes. And that's part of what works amazingly well. Amazingly. You get pulled into this nightmare of Detroit before Halloween, and if all the bad guys are like comic book awful, that's part of it, too. Thankfully it isn't too realistic. Detroit can be scary--I grew up in the outskirts, and I remember being scared for real on Devil's Night, October 30--but Detroit's nightmare isn't silly, not at all. And it's a city filled with decency, too. As one reviewer said, this makes Batman's Gotham look like the Emerald City. Not quite.
It's tough to get too demanding about more ordinary things like acting, because the movie doesn't strive for realism. And it sure succeeds at avoiding it. But it succeeds also in keeping us outside of any real sympathies for the characters, except for the little girl, Sarah, who is a terrific and believable presence. Lee was obviously chosen for his body and his rock star kind of good looks (his make up is more Aerosmith than anything, which makes sense because Eric Draven is a rock star). But Lee can't act worth beans, and that's everyone's opinion. Whether you think it matters is another thing. Watch it and see. He has a following of sorts (not like his father Bruce, of course), so that might help. And it's his last film--he died at only 28 years old from an accident during the filming of the movie (a dummy or re-charged blank bullet hit him from a prop gun). Unfortunately that's part of the legend and tragedy of the movie to this day.
We are overdue of a really good book overview of the comic book movies, to put their style and different intentions into perspective. Some are zany and live on their plasticky otherworldliness, like maybe the first breakthrough "Superman" movie (1978) which feels bright and colorful overall, or the Tim Burton "Batman" which isn't bright, but it's wacky. Most of these are have fakey scripts that just do the job of getting across the plot. The worst/best example of this might be the visually astonishing and ultimately boring "Watchmen" (which is a live-action animation). "Then there are the very serious seeming Nolan movies, the trilogy (so far), which tries to almost make Batman possible. The Robert Downey Jr. "Ironman" fits into that mold. And I think "The Crow" is really a precursor to these dark and realistic movies. Notice that "The Crow" precedes the first Nolan movie ("Batman Begins") by a decade.
But the key difference now is that the believability of the main characters is worlds apart in the two movies--compare Christian Bale with Brandon Lee. Or just look at the scripts of the two movies. It's a wonder that "The Crow" holds up as well as it does. But it does. And it's mostly because of how it was made. Amazing, beautiful, dark visuals and moving camera and incredibly smart editing. And as one last bizarre twist--it was shot in North Carolina, not Detroit--Detroit was probably too dangerous.
There's no question this is a vigorous, crazy-violent, youth oriented, anti-establishment movie with a heart. It's utterly romantic in an almost childish way but thank god for that because parts of the movie--more and more of it as it goes--are about exacting revenge. For me, as exaggerated and fun as it is in a way, it still only goes so far.
But revenge is a good motive for action, and for bloody theatrical murder. Make no bones about it, the main character, this "Crow" person who has the worldly name Eric Draven (played by Brandon Lee) is a murderous hunk of a dude. He's an archetype of selfish lawless justice.
The film is dark dark dark. The mood is dark, the lighting is dark, and the sets are made of dark things--wet pavement at night, blackish brick and empty alleyways, and dark clothes. And that's part of what works amazingly well. Amazingly. You get pulled into this nightmare of Detroit before Halloween, and if all the bad guys are like comic book awful, that's part of it, too. Thankfully it isn't too realistic. Detroit can be scary--I grew up in the outskirts, and I remember being scared for real on Devil's Night, October 30--but Detroit's nightmare isn't silly, not at all. And it's a city filled with decency, too. As one reviewer said, this makes Batman's Gotham look like the Emerald City. Not quite.
It's tough to get too demanding about more ordinary things like acting, because the movie doesn't strive for realism. And it sure succeeds at avoiding it. But it succeeds also in keeping us outside of any real sympathies for the characters, except for the little girl, Sarah, who is a terrific and believable presence. Lee was obviously chosen for his body and his rock star kind of good looks (his make up is more Aerosmith than anything, which makes sense because Eric Draven is a rock star). But Lee can't act worth beans, and that's everyone's opinion. Whether you think it matters is another thing. Watch it and see. He has a following of sorts (not like his father Bruce, of course), so that might help. And it's his last film--he died at only 28 years old from an accident during the filming of the movie (a dummy or re-charged blank bullet hit him from a prop gun). Unfortunately that's part of the legend and tragedy of the movie to this day.
We are overdue of a really good book overview of the comic book movies, to put their style and different intentions into perspective. Some are zany and live on their plasticky otherworldliness, like maybe the first breakthrough "Superman" movie (1978) which feels bright and colorful overall, or the Tim Burton "Batman" which isn't bright, but it's wacky. Most of these are have fakey scripts that just do the job of getting across the plot. The worst/best example of this might be the visually astonishing and ultimately boring "Watchmen" (which is a live-action animation). "Then there are the very serious seeming Nolan movies, the trilogy (so far), which tries to almost make Batman possible. The Robert Downey Jr. "Ironman" fits into that mold. And I think "The Crow" is really a precursor to these dark and realistic movies. Notice that "The Crow" precedes the first Nolan movie ("Batman Begins") by a decade.
But the key difference now is that the believability of the main characters is worlds apart in the two movies--compare Christian Bale with Brandon Lee. Or just look at the scripts of the two movies. It's a wonder that "The Crow" holds up as well as it does. But it does. And it's mostly because of how it was made. Amazing, beautiful, dark visuals and moving camera and incredibly smart editing. And as one last bizarre twist--it was shot in North Carolina, not Detroit--Detroit was probably too dangerous.