Year: 1994
Director: Alex Poryas
Country: US
Language: English
Brandon Lee had only three days of filming left of The Crow when he was killed. The story goes that there was a scene involving a gun fight, one of the guns was accidentally loaded with real bullets instead of blanks and Lee would find his end at the end of a barrel. Though there are some scenes in shadow that use a double, and some computer-enhanced scenes that seamlessly lift his image from one setting and place it in another, Lee's performance is still noteworthy. There is no doubt that this role would have led to more mainstream success for the actor.
Brandon Lee stars as brutally murdered man, who comes back to life as an undead avenger of his and his fiancée's murder
The Crow has a unique visual style, created by cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, who lifted his ideas from gothic graphic novels (The Crow itself was originally a graphic novel). The camera swoops high above the city, or dips low for extreme-angle shots. Shadows are ever present, striking fear into the viewer. Buildings have exaggerated architecture that is reminiscent of Tim Burton's Batman. It's essentially a film-noir in terms of visual language.
The Crow is faster paced than a film noir however, and it evokes its gothic style far better than Batman ever could. It has a bleak modern sensibility, which is compounded by the wall-to-wall hard rock soundtrack which features The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, and Pantera among others. The script is adequate for a violent revenge picture (though not on the same level as Oldboy)but its main success is creating such a bizarre and intriguing world. Despite being 23 years old, The Crow doesn't seem as aged as some of its contemporaries,
Brandon Lee's swan song is an adrenaline feast which benefits from having startling images burst through the screen. It is one of the best comic-to-film adaptations I have seen as it is a work of technical brilliance. It is quite unique, a "must see" for the visuals for-sure.
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