(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from The Crow)
Doug (vo): It's every 1994 goth kid's—before they even knew what the term "goth kids" meant—favorite movie, The Crow. In honor of its 30th anniversary and, at the time of recording this, the biggest bomb of the year, (The poster for the 2024 remake of The Crow is shown) I figure it makes sense to look back and see what made this film such a beloved classic to so many.
Story[]
Doug (vo): In a Detroit that looks more like Dark City—which makes sense, it is the same director—a man named Eric, played by Brandon Lee, and his girlfriend are tragically murdered. One year later, Eric comes back from the grave to get revenge while also setting some other wrongs right and looking, as they describe it, like a "mime from Hell." And yeah, that's about it, there's nothing too complicated about this story. Again, kind of unlike the remake.
Review[]
Doug (vo): So I was about the perfect age and arguably the perfect mindset to see this movie when it came out. Unfortunately, it was rated R and it was one of the few movies I couldn't really sneak into. They're pretty strict at the theater we went to, and neither of my parents wanted to go with me. So, I had to see it when it came on VHS. Now, to some extent, that's the perfect way to see it because while yes, this is visually dazzling and it looks amazing on Blu-ray, seeing it on kind of grimy, sketchy, bad-tracking VHS was also kind of awesome. Either way, the film looks really good. But I will say, when I saw it back then and so many people were talking about how awesome it was, I found it...good, but not really great. I think I was expecting something a little bit more like Batman. I mean, honestly, it was looking more like Batman than the next Batman movie was going to be, but I hadn't given it another shot. Honestly, I haven't seen this since it first came out, and watching it again, I will say it is a lot better than I remember it. I already remember this movie being good, but now, all these years later, I do see why so many folks really got into it.
(Footage focusing on the visual style is shown)
Doug (vo): This is a film that really relies on its visual storytelling and its performances. Like I said, the plot is very, very simple, a basic "person done wrong gets revenge." But because the story is told having skipped a few scenes, like we actually start off after the main character is killed, it works a little backward, but it actually does it better than I originally thought. Like, look at this place, it is literally on fire. You can tell this is not a good spot. And when this kid finds out two people she really cared about are gone, the way it's played is very smart. She's talking very deadpan, almost like it doesn't matter. Honestly, when I first saw this, I thought she was kind of underacting, but they have this one tear going down the side of her cheek, and you kind of put together she's used to this. It's a terrible thing to get used to, and it does still affect her, but it doesn't really surprise her, even though it hurts.
(Footage focusing on the villains is shown)
Doug (vo): A lot of this movie works that way. Like, even all these thugs that the Crow goes after and kills off, with every single one of them, you feel like they have a backstory. They have personalities so well defined, you'd swear this was a sequel, like you saw their character setup in a movie before it. But no, these are just thugs for the Crow to kill off, and each one of them uniquely stands out.
(Footage focusing on Eric, aka the Crow, is shown)
Doug (vo): I'm going to say what you're not supposed to say. When I first saw this movie, I thought Brandon Lee was...okay. And I know how sacrilegious that sounds because I know he died on this movie and everyone connects it to his big swan song, like his final tragic goodbye. But again, I think I just had a different idea about what this movie and this character was going to be. Originally, I thought it was going to be more like he's a very natural badass. Honestly, I kind of thought he'd be more like the main villain in this, like he just had this cool, vengeful, bloodthirsty side to him. But I thought he was playing it more not like a guy who was born badass, but suddenly decided to be badass and hasn't been badass for that long. So, some of these moments as a 12-year-old, I wasn't really saying, "Oh, I want to be this character." But watching it again, that's entirely the point, we don't really get to see much of Eric before he dies. In fact, we practically see none of him. The first time we really see him is when he's rising from the grave, and everything else is just kind of told through backstory and quick little flashbacks and just how people talk about him. And based on what everybody says, he was a good guy. He had a band, he loved his girlfriend, he was good with people and everybody was heartbroken when he and his girlfriend were horribly murdered. That is exactly how Brandon Lee plays it, he does find the vulnerability. He's playing it like a dude who's really pissed off, but wasn't always a cold-blooded killer. He has his supernatural powers now, so he's going to toy with his prey a little bit. He's clumsy sometimes, he trips over himself, he's often lost, but that's how a person with this background would be. Even putting on all that makeup, tell me that's something a guy from a rock band wouldn't do. I 100% buy this was a good guy who came from a rock band that wears all black, getting revenge.
(Footage focusing on Sarah, her mother, Darla and Sgt. Albrecht is shown)
Doug (vo): Like I said, all the performances kind of work that way, you feel their history. Ernie Hudson, whether he's in something good or bad, is always so damn charming. This little subplot with the girl and her mother, it's not even like there's a ton of time dedicated to it, but it's very tight and efficient in how it gets its information across. I love when she suddenly turns around, and again, she's not that great at it, but she's putting in the effort, and you see these two kind of clumsily stumble back into being a family again. But it's not instant, again, you can feel like these two have broken each other's hearts a lot, so they don't know whether or not to trust one another, but they make up so quickly that you do believe there's a real bond there to begin with.
(Footage focusing on the editing and the sets is shown)
Doug (vo): If I do have one problem with this movie—honestly, with most Alex Proyas movies—is that I'm not a big fan of his editing. Honestly, compared to something like Dark City, where I feel like there's an edit every two seconds, this one is edited better. There are moments where you can really just sit and enjoy the visuals, but there are so many moments that are just way too chopped up, and it does hurt the film here and there. Like, when Eric first rises from the grave, you should really take your time with this, but it's one of those moments where you could blink and miss it. That's a big moment! Your main character is doing the impossible, coming back from the dead, but if you look down for a minute, then look back up, you'll totally miss it. There's even a scene where the main bad guys stab someone in the throat, and like one second later, he's like, "Oh, die already!" And I'm like, "Well, you literally just stabbed him!" But that's the way this editing kind of works, it's just so fast and so impatient that it doesn't give every moment what it needs. But sometimes it works to its advantage, like when Eric is trying to remember his past. He doesn't really remember who he is, so he just gets these flashes and they're very disjointed and disturbing. I mean, this guy was killed, and killed in a terrible way, so it would kind of be very jagged and off. The film does lay off the tight editing just enough so you can really take in these visuals, and, like I said, these visuals are fantastic. I love looking at this model of the city, and as I said before, I love looking at something in a live-action movie that's actually live-action. It was actually constructed, and it's so cool to think they just built so much of this town just to get these shots that sometimes go by in a millisecond.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): It's not perfect. Like I said, the story may be just a touch too simple, and every once in a while, there's a lot that doesn't make sense. Like, this dude says, "Yeah, this guy, he told me to tell you death is coming, whatever that means". And it's like, what else could that mean? It could only mean one thing, he's going to kill you. What'd you interpret that as? But overall, the film is better than I remember it, and I already remember enjoying it quite a bit. I just didn't love it. And now, while I can't say I quite love it, I love parts of it. I do like Brandon Lee's performance, I like the visuals, I like how much character they get across through very simple means. And yeah, when I think about a movie adaptation of a black and white graphic novel, okay, I maybe think of Sin City first, but this is a close second. A part of me honestly wants to watch this movie in black and white just to see what it's like. With that said, what are your thoughts? Do you think this film still holds up all these years later, and is it a classic? Do you feel like it's more style over substance? Or do you feel like it's not a perfect flick on its own, but it is a perfect 1994 goth time capsule? Let me know your thoughts, and until then, keep in mind, it can't rain all the time.
(A scene where the Crow is standing in the window of a building overlooking the city is shown)