The Crow (1994)

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nThe Crow (1994)

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nDirector: Alex Proyas

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nWhen I saw The Crow on its original release back inn1994; it had the same effect on me as when I saw Heath Ledger in TerrynGilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (2009); I felt I was seeing a ghost.nThere’s something eerie about seeing an actor’s last film; you feel as if thenactor still lives on even though they’ve just recently passed away, somehow immortalized by film. These types of films arenmore of a shock when they have scenes dealing with the death of the characternthe dead actor played. For example, in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, HeathnLedger has a scene in which he hangs himself from a bridge. This was a chilling scene to watch, but the full effect of this scene isn’t felt until minutes after, when Ledger popsnout of a treasure chest, alive and kicking, like some twisted magic trick beingnplayed on all of us. The end result,nwhen watched in the darkness of a theater, is truly eerie. Brandon Lee pullednof a similar magic trick in The Crow because as most of you undoubtedly know,nhe died while making that film; which makes the scene in which he literallyncrawls out of his grave so  macabre, emotional and undoubtedly powerful. The irony can be cut with a knife. There’s a scene in which Officer Albrechtnrecognizes The Crow as being Eric Draven, the young man who had been brutallynmurdered a year ago. Officer Albrecht tells Eric Draven, “Don’t move SnownWhite! You move, you’re dead!”  andnBrandon Lee slowly looks up to him, with white make up on his face andnsays:  “And I say I’m dead, and I move!” Hownbrutally ironic and in a way fittingly poetic when we take in consideration thensource material; James O’Barr’s poetic graphic novel, The Crow.

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nFrom inception, the idea behind The Crow was fueled by deathnand tragedy. James O’Barr, the creator behind The Crow started working on hisngraphic novel as a way to exorcise his own demons. You see, O’Barr’s girlfriendnwas run down by a drunk driver and as a way to get rid of all the pain that herndeath caused him; he started working on The Crow. The result was a romantic andnpoetic bullet opera fueled by despair. O’Barr told The Boston Phoenix thatn“there is pure anger in every page”, he even went on to mention that instead ofnbeing cathartic; he was even more messed up by the time he finished working onnthe book. The untimely death of Brandon Lee amplified his sadness and anger,nmaking him wish he’d never done the book, blaming god for his luck in life.n“God is a bastard” said O’Barr in an interview he did for the Boston Phoenix,n“If there is one.” Tragedy it seems, was meant to follow James O’Barrnthroughout his life because while the comic and the film brought him success,nhis life was still mired by tragedy. The Crow was a bitter sweet victory. 

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nThe production of this film was muddled by a bunch of weirdnaccidents like a carpenter accidentally drilling a screwdriver through hisnhand, another carpenter getting burned by power lines, a disgruntled sculptorncrashing his car on to the set, a truck catching fire on the set and BrandonnLee getting cut by break away glass! This collection of accidents, plus thendeath of Brandon Lee leads some to believe that The Crow was one of thosencursed films, like the Poltergeist franchise. Of course that’s all a lot ofnbull crap, these are all things that could and have happened on any film set,nwhich are usually a maelstrom of craziness, more so on films with smallernbudgets. Best part of the whole ordeal is that an amazing film shined through thentroubled production. In my book, The Crow remains a masterpiece of Gothicncinema. So much so that I try and pinpoint a film that is like it, but nothingnpops up. I mean, sure, it’s a revenge film of which there are many, but none ofnthem have the combination of elements that brought The Crow together with suchnpanache. It is in my book a rather unique film.  

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nJames O’Barr’s graphic novel is a mixture of romance,nviolence, poetry and rock and roll and this is one of the things I love most aboutnthe film, it’s just so damn rock and roll! This movie is so rock and roll thatnEric Draven walks around with a freaking guitar on his back! No amplifier ornanything, just the freaking guitar on his back, because you know, it makes himnlook that much cooler. Even though James O’Barr is constantly quoting JoynDivision and The Cure songs (two bands that inspired O’Barr as he drew andnwrote) it was actually the filmmakers who made Eric Draven the lead singer of anrock band named ‘Hang Man’s Joke’, probably as a way to reference the death ofnIan Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, who hung himself. How rock andnroll is this film? Well, there’s this awesome scene in which Draven is sittingnon a roof top, playing his electric guitar as the sun sets. That scene is in mynbook the epitome of rock and roll coolness. So yeah, while the book displays annobvious affection for rock and roll as a means to channel the whole melancholicnsadness that Eric Draven is going through, it was the filmmakers who amplifiednthis angle to the max. And it was Alex Proyas, the films director who opted tonmake the film dark and noir-ish, originally, Proyas wanted to film the wholenthing in black and white, but the studio opposed so he went with a colornpalette infused with a lot of black and white, a lot of grays. The result isnone of the darkest films you will ever see. Almost the entire film takes placenduring the nighttime which gives it a very unique feel. 

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nOf course, there are some differences between graphic novelnand film, characters are switched around and eliminated as is common place withnbook to film adaptations. One noticeable change was that in the book, theyndon’t attack Shelly and Eric while they are in their apartment. In the comic,nthe reason for their murder is a lot more random. Funboy and his goons are outnon a drug infused joy ride when they come upon Eric and Shelly, whose car brokendown on a lonely road. In the book, the one who suffers “thirty hours of pain”nin a hospital is actually Eric Draven himself, not Shelly. The comic has waynmore poetic passages of Eric Draven remembering Shelly and their timesntogether, also, there’s the mysterious ghost/zombie cowboy that lurks ominouslynin the background of the comic, guiding Eric Draven through his mission here onnearth. They actually shot some scenes with this ghost cowboy character; he wasnplayed by Michael Berryman. Unfortunately those scenes were deleted for pacingnreasons. Still, even with all these alterations and deletions, I’d say that thenfilm is an excellent translation of the graphic novel. Not only does the filmncapture the spirit and essence of James O’Barr’s comic books, it also adds anmore rock and rollish vibe to the proceedings.

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nAt the same time, there are scenes which are perfectntranslations of the comic, for example, the scene in which Eric Drave visitsnGideon’s Pawn Shop is an almost panel for panel translation of what we get innthe comic…another faithfully translated sequence is the one in which Eric Dravennvisits Top Dollar’s hide out, stands on the table and starts shooting everybody.  The only difference is that the comic isnactually a hell of a lot more violent with that shoot out. The Crow isn’t anstory about a hero, in fact, James O’Barr himself says that he doesn’t see EricnDraven as a hero, rather, he feels that “He can be absolutely cold-hearted andnruthless at times. When he goes into a room to get one person, everyone else innthe room is probably going to die as well. I think what he is doing is terriblynromantic, but I wouldn’t call him a hero” I agree. I’d say that there’s nonmercy for the wicked when it comes to Eric Draven. He figures if you’re in anroom with Top Dollar and Fun Boy, then you must be a bad guy, and bad guysngotta pay, they gotta be stopped. Both the book and the film are infused with anburning hatred for scumbags.

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nAnd speaking of that shoot out, I recently re-watched thenfilm to write this review and damn, I was blow away by how good it is, it hasnto be one of the all time best shoot outs ever, right up there with the shootnout from Michael Mann’s Heat (1995). This shoot out has to be one of thencoolest, most extended shoot outs in film history! It goes on forever! Bottomnline is The Crow is perfectly Gothic, dark and extremely violent film. Thenblack leather, the rock and roll, the gothic churches, the stormy lightingnfilled nights…it all adds up to the perfect gothic masterpiece. I still to thisnday love it and considering the rest of his body of work, I still consider it AlexnProya’s best film. It’s also Brandon Lees best film, the one that made him anstar, it’s the one he is most remembered by. He pulled off such a sensiblenperformance, you feel his pain and his love for Shelly. True, Brandon Lee wentnout before his time, his death was as untimely as it could get, but what annamazingly beautiful swan song this film is. My hats down to you Mr. Lee. It’sntrue, you are dead, but you still walk my friend, you still walk.

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nRating: 5 out of 5   

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