Classic Movie Review: 'The Crow' Starring Brandon Lee

The Crow (1994)

Directed by Alex Proyas

Written by David J. Schow

Starring Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott, Bai Ling, Rochelle Davis

Release Date May 13th, 1994

Published May 26th, 2024

The Crow is a haunting experience in more ways than one. It's a beautifully told tragic love story of grand ambition and a memorable goth aesthetic. But's also a virtual tomb for star Brandon Lee. Lee was killed in an on set accident that haunts every single frame of the movie. The dark coincidence of Lee dying while playing a character who was already dead adds a chilling layer to the movie that was, obviously never intended. And yet, the tragedy also deepens our connection to the character of Eric Draven and the romantic tragedy that was supposed to be his defining characteristic.

In Detroit, Devil's Night is a tradition in which the criminal underworld rises up to remind the populace who is really in charge of the city. This is a city of criminals, mercenaries, and crime lords who assert dominance through violence. Making people afraid is good for business and thus, when Shelly, a lovely young, soon to be married young woman complains about the condition of the apartment she shares with her soon to be husband, Eric (Lee), reprisal is needed to show her and everyone else that the apartment owner is not to be trifled with.

It's genuinely unknown if the criminals who attacked Shelly on Devil's Night intended to kill her or just violently terrify her into silence. Regardless, when Eric arrives and interrupts the violent encounter, the stakes go up and Eric is killed. Shelly will die soon after from the horrific injuries inflicted upon her. The pure agony of these deaths are a wound on the universe. It's as if the price paid by Shelly and Eric was so out of proportion to the good in the world that the universe needed to offer a correction of some sort. Therein lies The Crow.

A year after his death, with the despair and agony of his death still lingering over the people who knew and cared about he and Shelly, Eric Draven rises from the grave. A singular crow stands atop his grave and will guide Eric on his brief sojourn back into the world of the living. The bargain the universe has made to balance the scales for the death of Eric and Shelly, is to have Eric return to the Earth to kill the men who killed Shelly. This includes everyone who attacked Shelly in the apartment and the man who orchestrated the attack, a crime boss nicknamed Top Dollar (Michael Wincott).

You know Top Dollar is the baddie because he tells us that Myca (Bai Ling) is his sister and yet, they are clearly lovers. Just the implication 0f something as unacceptable in society as incest is enough to tell us that Top Dollar is no good. That we also watch him cruelly murder people also tells us this, but the incest is the rancid icing on the baddie cake. He's not gong to have a single admirable trait and this fact seals that truth in amber. It's gratuitous detail, Top Dollar sleeping with his sister, but it speaks volumes about how truly irredeemable he is. Boo this man.

Eric meanwhile is bathed in nothing but signifiers of cool. A black trench coat, long unkempt hair, black joker makeup. He also plays guitar and when he slings it over his shoulder, the ax hanging at his waste, you can't help but dream of ever being as cool as Eric Draven carrying a guitar. The cool signifiers go beyond the screen however because this is BRANDON LEE, the son of Bruce Lee, cool personified for anyone who knows who Bruce Lee is. If this character didn't have a tragic back story, he'd still be so wildly cool that you'd want to see a movie about him.

Now add that tragic backstory. Add the fact that he came back to life because his love for Shelly was so powerful it could not be contained. The very universe was compelled to act and allow him to take revenge on her killers. So astonishing is Eric's love that ancient forces and legends are moved on his behalf. Imagine being loved so much that death cannot quell the pain of the loss of you. That's a lot. It's so much that it borders on parody. The Crow could have been pure goth cringe in the wrong hands.

But, with director Alex Proyas and star Brandon Lee we have a pair of artists who can take this potential cringe and mold it into one of the single coolest movies ever made. It's dark and poetic and romantic and violent. That's The Crow. Had Brandon indulged in broad emotionality, the movie would tip over into a burlesque of goth attitude. But, since Lee plays the role with a vibrating rage, agonizing emotional pain, and the gritted teeth intensity of the best action stars, we don't wince and look away, we dream with him. We are invited to indulge in a world where evil is punished because love was too strong to contain. How awesome is that.

The Crow is the subject of our latest edition the I Hate Critics 1994 podcast, a spin off of the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast. Each week, myself an my co-hosts, Gen-Z'er M.J and Gen-X'er Amy, watch a movie released 30 years earlier that same weekend with the goal of seeing what has held up and what hasn't. It's a great way to see how movies and popular culture have changed rapidly in just three decades. you can listen to the I Hate Critics 1994 Podcast on the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast feed, whereve you listen to podcasts.

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