“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.”
OK, let me get this out of the way. The Crow was a vehicle for Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend and movie star Bruce Lee. The elder Lee trained Brandon in martial arts from the day he could take his first steps. When Brandon was only eight years old, his father tragically died just before finishing production on Enter the Dragon, a movie which would go on to become an international blockbuster making Bruce Lee the greatest icon of martial arts cinema. Brandon followed in his father’s footsteps studying martial arts and drama.
After some television roles and a handful of above-average action movies under his belt, Brandon Lee was approached for the lead in a modestly-budgeted supernatural vengeance film based on James O’Barr’s cult comic book series, The Crow. Even though Lee wasn’t a big star name, producers convinced the studio he was the only actor who could bring the right mix of danger, charisma, athletics, fighting skills, and sex appeal to the role.
From the start the set was plagued with many strange and awful circumstances. During the first day of shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina, a carpenter suffered severe burns after his crane hit live power lines. On subsequent days, sets were ravaged by a storm, a grip truck caught fire, a disgruntled sculptor crashed his car through the studio’s plaster shop, and a crew member accidentally drove a screwdriver through his hand. As the cast and crew have recounted in interviews, illness, accidents, and even death touched many of them in their personal lives as well.
“If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.”
One night, just days before wrapping the film, the film crew were pushing setups late into the evening, and it was decided to use a gun without consent of the weapons coordinator who had been sent home early. A metal tip of a dummy bullet (non-firing rounds) somehow had pulled free from its brass casing and got lodged in the .44 Magnum’s cylinder. The dummy bullets were replaced with full-power blanks, and they handed the weapon to actor Michael Massee (who was so upset by what happened next he quit acting for an entire year). Even though he didn’t point the gun directly at Brandon when he fired, the force from the blank expelled the lodged bullet tip in a curved trajectory which hit Lee, shattering his spinal cord. Brandon was pronounced dead the next day, just three days before Brandon’s marriage to Eliza Hutten (hence the tribute at the end).
The Crow went on become an international blockbuster and spawned four sequels and a TV series. There are many who claim the movie would never have been a hit if Brandon didn’t die. I don’t know about that. Director Alex Proyas’ (Dark City, I Robot) distinctive style mixed with a wonderful cast and an amazingly charismatic lead created a perfect storm of cinema.
The story is very simple. Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiancée Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas) are murdered on Devil’s Night, October 30th, by a deranged gang. One year later to the night, with help of a supernatural crow, Eric is resurrected as an invulnerable killing machine to enact vengeance on those responsible for his and his love’s deaths. We witness most of the events through the eyes of Sarah (Sarah Rochelle Davis), a young street girl Eric and Shelly had befriended, and Sergeant Albrecht (Ernie Hudson), the policeman who investigated the crime.
There are scenes that are iconic and brilliant. Any scene with Brandon Lee is captivating. The city itself is like a character in the movie, boasting exceptional miniature work giving it depth, and Proyas’ sweeping shots explore its dark corners and shadows. The villains are fun and over-the-top, with great character actors like Michael Wincott, David Patrick Kelly, Michael Massee, Jon Polito, and Tony Todd chewing up the scenery with infinitely quotable lines. It boasts a haunting soundtrack, featuring original songs from a virtual who’s who of Goth, Rock, and Industrial artists. The movie is a triumph of visual style, influencing generations of filmmakers.
Unfortunately, you can tell there were scenes never shot that would have tied the movie together properly. It tends to feel a bit disjointed and uneven. There is virtually no back story for Eric and Shelly, no connection really given to the gang, and no reason to care about Sarah. The villains could have also been given a little more time to shine, given the talent pool Proyas was working with. Finally, the Deus Ex Machina finale feels a bit like lazy writing. However, these are minor issues once the film starts and you get swept up in the magic of The Crow.
Video
The Crow is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The ultra-high-definition image presentation is arrived at with an HEVC codec at an average of 70 mbps. The film was shot on 35mm, so is native 4K. There has also been extensive restoration here, and it shows. All I can say is Wow! This transfer really captures the dark, atmospheric mood of the film. It amazes me how well those miniatures and other f/x stand up not only 30 years later but with such a high resolution image presentation. The film is intentionally pretty much monochromatic. Colors are heavily washed away. It fits the black & white images of the original comic, and I think it’s why the miniatures, while totally obvious, blend so flawlessly with the live action. Black levels take full advantage of that HDR contrast bump so that you have incredible detail even in the darkest of shadows with a hero dressed almost entirely in black. The contrast with that white pancake combined with Lee’s extraordinary performance make the title character so ghostlike, yet so organic and real that you will fall in love with this film all over again. Detail and texture can be found everywhere, and I can honestly say I have never seen this film quite in this context even back in 1994 in the multiplex. This is a show-off piece all the way and an important upgrade in your UHD library.
Audio
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track isn’t nearly as impressive. I can’t say that there is anything wrong with the audio presentation, but I would have loved for an Atmos track to add some nice deep subs to the entire thing. You’ll hear everything fine, and the music for the film is as iconic as the atmospheric image presentation, so I shouldn’t really complain. Dialog cuts through, as does the music; I just would have liked a little more punch to the whole thing. That’s likely a little greedy, and it shouldn’t stop you from making the upgrade. This is one of those examples where you can’t get this on a cellphone screen, and streaming may have the resolution but not the bit rate to make this as much of a stunner on UHD. A true argument for the survival of physical media.
Special Features
The extras are found on the single UHD disc. It’s an impressive presentation, but what if space hadn’t been taken up with extras? Would that have allowed that Atmos audio presentation? In addition to ported extras from the earlier Blu-ray there are two new features:
Shadows And Pain – Designing The Crow: (24:16) There are three parts with a play-all option. It’s merely split up to avoid residual payments. Alex Mc Dowall was the film’s production designer, and he gives us a pretty in-depth look at the various aspects of the production design, from the miniatures to the locations and cinematography choices. There are some nice comparisons to frames from the comic along with conceptual art and storyboards. The last couple of minutes talk about Lee’s death, and there’s a rather haunting interview clip from the set of Lee talking about death and how we live our lives doing everything a finite number of times.
Sideshow Collectibles – An Interview With Edward R. Pressman: (13:24) There are some nice bits of information in the interview, but unfortunately they spend most of the time admiring a Sideshow figure, and so it feels more like a long commercial.
Final Thoughts:
I have no doubt Brandon would have been an action superstar had he survived this movie. It becomes a bit meta watching his death on screen, but it doesn’t take away from anything in this movie. It could be argued, in a somewhat sick way, that it adds to the pathos. If you love The Crow, you will want to own this UHD Blu-ray, and if you are new to it, this is the only way to watch it. Highly recommended!
“Greed is for amateurs. Disorder, chaos, anarchy: now that’s fun!”
Parts of this review were written by Gino Sassani
