A poetic guitarist Eric Draven is brought back to life by a crow a year after he and his fiancée are murdered. The crow guides him through the land of the living, and leads him to his killers: knife thrower Tin-tin, drugetic Funboy, car buff T-Bird, and the unsophisticated Skank. One by one, Eric gives these thugs a taste of their own medicine. However their leader Top-Dollar, a world-class crime lord who will dispatch his enemies with a Japanese sword and joke about it later, will soon learn the legend of the crow and the secret to the vigilante's invincibility.Written by
Don Hoffman
Despite James O'Barr modeled Eric Draven's face on an amalgam of Ian Curtis and Daniel Ash in the original comic, in the movie Draven's face after to puts on make-up was modeled after Robert Smith, singer of The Cure, in the music video The Cure: Lullaby (1989) (the only one difference between both make-ups is in the lips; red in Smith and black in Brandon Lee). Oddly enough, the band performed one song for the original soundtrack, "Burn". See more »
Goofs
In the flashback showing how Eric died he's stabbed as soon as he walks in the door, then shot twice (we hear 2 gunshots), and finally thrown backward through a window. As he's putting on his makeup the lightning flashes and 5 bullet wounds can be seen in his back, but moments later when he puts on his shirt there are only 3 holes in his back. When he turns around in addition to the stab wound on the right side of his abdomen there are various other cuts and wounds on his left side. Since he went through the window backward and landed on broken glass the cuts should be on and all over his back (there are none) not on his abdomen (where there are several.) See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Sarah:
[voiceover]
People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.
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Crazy Credits
The end credits opened with the message "For Brandon and Eliza". See more »
Alternate Versions
The DVD contains exactly the following material:
An extended bombing scene where the gang ties the bomb and harasses the cashier, tying her up. All the while Eric is rising from the grave all stunned and confused. He comes across the Arcade just as it blows up and, as the cashier gives her last to crawl out, he catches her and accidentally sees her memories of the attack. He then goes on just like in the released version.
An extended scene with Eric in Funboy's dept. right after he did his mojo on Darla, who goes away hurried and freaked, Eric is stabbed by Funboy and realizes he bleeds, just as he gets hit some more before countering. He says some lines and then kills Funboy. This explains the tape on his torso and hands.
Extended Top Dollar's office shootout scene. Eric arrives to the place and both say a few more lines, then, after that, the shootout begins. The scene is basically the same, only having a few (noticeable by the immediate quality change) longer shots, and being much, much, gorier.
Unused footage montage, showing halloween boys running in slow-mo for a minute, very brief unused or alternate shots of some characters, a shot of eric lying over T-Bird's car's roof, and (without the corresponging dialogue) the scene of the Skull Cowboy standing in front of Eric as he rises, and reaching his arm out for the crow to fly to eric.
Storyboards. They are from some scenes, but contain (with no division so watch out) all of the Skull Cowboy's scenes. The SC standing at his grave. The SC standing in fron of the loft's window with Eric running berserker at him and, as he misses, jumps out the window and grabs the ledge to come back in as in the movie, to find he is gone. The SC coming to Eric, after saving Darla, as he plays the guitar on the roof telling him that he cannot assist the living or he'll bleed. And the SC standing in the church steps telling Eric to go back to the grave since he already killed his enemies and it is forbidden to assist the living (Sarah), as he denies, he says "choose and be damned", and desintegrates in a whirlwind of dust, but stripping Eric of his powers and warning him his chance to meet Shelly may be at jeopardy, thus explaining his vulnerability.
The Crow is an excellent tragic film made even more tragic by the real life tragedies surrounding the film (Brandon Lee's death during filming, and the fact that the story is a result of James O'Barr's personal loss of his fiancée). Based on a very dark comic book, the film has the same dark feel. The movie does deviate from the comic book in some points, but in general is fairly faithful. If you can get it, I would recommend the DVD Collector's set with the 2 DVD version of The Crow (just to see the interview with James O'Barr is worth the price).
The story is a basically about revenge from beyond the grave, and how true love is forever. The movie has a good (but fairly basic) plot, excellent action sequences, and very good casting. Brandon Lee gives a good performance (not excellent, but good), as does Ernie Hudson. The supporting villains are excellent in their villainy, and you do feel better when they get it in the end. But the real star of this film is the mood and the feel. It feels gritty, bleak, and depressing, but surprisingly uplifting at the end. Alex Proyas did an excellent job of transferring this feeling from the book onto celluloid. All in all, one of the best comic book to film translations I have ever seen.
You do not have to be familiar with the comic book to thoroughly enjoy this film (like you do with some other comic book adaptations).
Rating : 4.5 out of 5
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The Crow is an excellent tragic film made even more tragic by the real life tragedies surrounding the film (Brandon Lee's death during filming, and the fact that the story is a result of James O'Barr's personal loss of his fiancée). Based on a very dark comic book, the film has the same dark feel. The movie does deviate from the comic book in some points, but in general is fairly faithful. If you can get it, I would recommend the DVD Collector's set with the 2 DVD version of The Crow (just to see the interview with James O'Barr is worth the price).
The story is a basically about revenge from beyond the grave, and how true love is forever. The movie has a good (but fairly basic) plot, excellent action sequences, and very good casting. Brandon Lee gives a good performance (not excellent, but good), as does Ernie Hudson. The supporting villains are excellent in their villainy, and you do feel better when they get it in the end. But the real star of this film is the mood and the feel. It feels gritty, bleak, and depressing, but surprisingly uplifting at the end. Alex Proyas did an excellent job of transferring this feeling from the book onto celluloid. All in all, one of the best comic book to film translations I have ever seen.
You do not have to be familiar with the comic book to thoroughly enjoy this film (like you do with some other comic book adaptations).
Rating : 4.5 out of 5