“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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