A few days ago I watched Way of the Dragon starring Bruce Lee and it made me think about The Crow and the fact that I had it in my queue of films to watch. So naturally I thought perhaps it would be fitting to feature a review here for the Countdown To Halloween Blog-A-Thon. Then I wondered if it is a Halloween movie. Is Nightmare Before Christmas? I kinda think so. This is listed as a Action/Fantasy/Super Hero film. So I didn't know what to do.
I thought about it for a day or two and decided either way I was at least going to watch it. If I was going to review it here would be decided afterwards. So I did watch it and now here goes the review: It takes place on the night before Halloween or "Devil's Night" as they called it and then it takes place on the same night a year later. Eric Draven (Brandon Lee), is a rock star who is murdered along with his fiance on Devil's Night by a gang that rule the streets of Detroit. A year later he is awoken by a crow tapping it's beak on his headstone. Imbued with supernatural powers of strength, stealth, and healing, Draven or The Crow (I don't think he's called that in the movie ever. Since I've never read the comic I'm not sure if the title only refers to the crow that both awakens him and gives him his powers or if it refers to Draven himself. We need a research department!) dons some really cool Joker makeup and goes out looking for revenge.
Ernie Hudson and Rochelle Davis play a police sergeant and a teenage street urchin respectively, who help Draven complete his mission. Portraying some of the street gang are Michael Wincott as the gang's leader Top Dollar, Bai Ling as his girlfriend Myca, and David Patrick Kelly as T-Bird. So is it a Halloween film? Not really, but it does feature a dead guy crawling out of the grave to seek revenge and that sounds Halloweeny enough to include it here. Now the issue is I have to grade this without thinking about the terrible fact that Lee was killed while making the film. I can't let that influence my judgement into giving it a mercy star or half a star. With that in mind I give The Crow three hours of pain out of five.
Haven't watched it since it came out. I should, just to remember. I loved the soundtrack to the film a lot.
ReplyDeleteI find it a bit off putting that I posted this on the same day Alec Baldwin accidentally killed a cinematographer with a prop gun on the set of "Rust". Production has been delayed indefinitely and sadly the film may never see the light of day.
ReplyDeleteStrange coincidence, for sure. Sad, too.
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