Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 19-December-04
Spoiler Rating: Low

The Crow (1994)

Where, oh where was Eric Draven when I was 16 years old? The hero of "The Crow" would have rocked my world back then, spawning countless hours of fan-mag-staring, poster-shopping, and crush-discussing on the telephone. For Eric is the perfect teen dream: a cute, sensitive rock musician who's nice to kids and animals but looks great in black while killing evil criminals and delivering angst-filled guitar riffs from rooftops. If you're in high school, it doesn't get any better than that ... and if you're staring down middle age, it still has a certain appeal.

"The Crow" foreshadowed Hollywood's current love affair with comic books, and as with all such movies the elements are fairly predictable. (This, combined with a modest budget, gives the picture a solid B-movie vibe.) The story begins with the vicious murder of an engaged couple in a gothic city that looks like it should be crawling with vampires but apparently isn't (the people are bad enough). One year later, thanks to a get-out-of-oblivion card from a mystical crow, the young man (Brandon Lee) returns from the dead and begins to exact revenge on the men who destroyed his life. He is aided in this quest by his totem bird, the near invincibility of his animated corpse, and some other powers that aren't clearly defined. (Also by the mime makeup he puts on for some reason, which strikes terror into the hearts of his foes.)

The romantic quality of Eric Draven, aka The Crow, is enhanced by Lee's good looks and ingenuousness, and, sadly, by his accidental death during the filming of the movie. (Would that all such tragic losses of youth were staged.) All things considered, it would be very hard not to cheer for the hero, but lest anyone hesitate, the story aligns him with a plucky girl struggling in the slums (Rochelle Davis) and a down-and-out cop with good intentions (Ernie Hudson), and by making the villains as repulsive as possible. By the time Eric has worked through the gang of scumbags who did him in, the audience is more than primed for him to tackle the nihilistic ringleader (Michael Wincott) and his debauched sister-cum-lover (Bai Ling), and earn the right finally to rest in peace.

"The Crow" isn't too creepy or too graphically violent; in fact, it's not too much of anything especially noteworthy. (Maybe it would have surprised me more in '94.) A tried-and-true justice tale that lines up its targets and faithfully knocks them down, it relies on people's inherent belief that even in the worst circumstances the good guy should come out on top. With a hip soundtrack and a hero who makes death an extension of his rebel/lover cool, it's a rental that ought to please the teen in all of us.

Copyright © 2004 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.