Believe in angels.
In a world without justice, one man was chosen to protect the innocent.

People once believed that when someone dies a crow carries that soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes something so bad happens that terrible sadness is carried with it. And the soul can't rest. And sometimes the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.

opening narration

I don't know if I was destined to play this role, but I feel very fortunate to be doing so.

Brandon Lee

Crow movie collectibles - stunning stuff at decent prices, some signed by James O'Barr

Finally there's a cool 2-disc Region 2 DVD of this film!
Disc One: Filmmakers commentary. Deleted footage. Extended scenes.
Disk Two: Featurette. Profile of James O'Barr. Brandon Lee's last on screen interview. 16:9 vs 4:3 feature comparison. Production design. Storyboard sequences. Click here to buy this from Sendit.com. (Click here to buy the Region 1 Collectors Series edition.)

The Crow (directed by Alex Proyas, who went on to direct Dark City) is a tour de force from all concerned - and my favourite movie. It far surpasses anything Brandon took part in up to this point. Production design, choreography, acting, music, brilliant miniature work, cinematography (by Dariusz Wolski) and direction all come together in an unforgettable whole which lingers in one's memory. Brandon's performance is flawless. He threw his all into the role, losing weight and altering the timbre of his voice, all to striking effect, endowing the character of Eric Draven with tangible physical presence and poignant anguish. Repeat viewings reveal the endless detail in his performance - it delights and astonishes anew every time I see it.

"It's a wonderful role and it really is a role that you have to take risks with, and it gives you the opportunity to take those risks and stretch. Because you tell me how someone who comes back from the dead is going to behave."

Draven is a dead man, newly arisen - in a striking scene - to seek justice and avenge his murder as well as the brutal murder and rape of his fiancé Shelley a year ago, a day before their wedding. Assisted by the black crow who brought him back he searches for his murderers, dispatching each in a manner appropriate to the way he lived. The explosive expert dies by his own bombs, the junkie of an overdose, and so on. The character of the girl, Sarah, wonderfully played by Rochelle Davis, serves to give Draven a chance to display his tender side, as he does with the girl's mother (he saves her) and the cop, played by Ernie Hudson. Originally, there were supposed to be more scenes of the live Draven with his fiancé in the happy days before their murder, necessary to balance the dark tone and violence of the movie, but Brandon died before they could be finished. Sarah's character was given more weight, and her voice-over was either added or fleshed out, as a result.

"I've done other films that have had violence in them. But I must say I've never done anything where I've felt that the violence was as justified as it is in this."

The Crow is a movie of extremes. It is very violent; its shootouts remind me of those in John Woo's Hong Kong movies, and there can be no doubt that these scenes were influenced by him - they are well-choreographed, and Draven uses the distinctive two-guns-blazing approach to killing his opponents. They also go on for a long time, since there are many bad guys to kill and Draven is invulnerable to blades and bullets. The bad guys are depraved in addition to being bad. Michael Wincott's character has a sexual relationship with his cannibalistic half-sister who has an eyeball fetish. The assault on Draven and Shelley, depicted as flashing images as Draven and his victims remember it, is shocking in its ruthless violence punctuated by the enjoyment of their killers. All these scenes are accompanied by pounding raucous music by trash and death metal and cyberpunk bands. Director Proyas's music video background aids rather than hinders the movie - this was his first feature.

"It's a story about justice for victims."

In the midst of the carnage there are touching moments of great sadness, often accompanied by Graeme Revell's beautiful music. In these the lonely Sarah grieves for her lost friends Shelley and Eric, and Eric in turn remembers tender moments shared with Shelley in their flat. This serves as counterpoint to the sickness of the "love" between Top Dollar and his sister, and the perversion of the gang in general. The final scene, in which Draven returns to his grave, to be reunited with his love in some form of afterlife, is made endlessly sad by the knowledge that it can never be for Brandon and his family.

The movie is certainly not without flaw. Some of it is due to the sudden death of its star, which necessitated a rethink of the whole movie at a late stage in its development. I for one have no problem with a movie's style and design filling in for greater character development and plot depth. The movie's lasting impression and great popularity speaks for itself. The void left by Brandon Lee's death can never be filled, but this film is a fitting last testament and tribute to his talent and commitment. He was set to be in a trilogy of Crow films.

"This is the best role that I've had the opportunity to get my hands on in a film."

We have been deprived of a performer of great presence and charisma, a dragon in the making. By a needless accident. By human error. He was wounded fatally a few days before the end of principal shooting when hit by a dummy bullet which had lodged in a .44 Magnum. The gun was accidentally pointed directly at him by Michael Massee, who played Funboy, while the latter was off balance. It hit Brandon in the abdomen, and did so much damage to his vital organs, being more powerful than a real bullet, that he died 12 hours later, in spite of being given 14 pints of blood. Ironically, he was filming the very scene in which his character, Eric Draven, is murdered as he comes back to his apartment with some groceries. The gun wrangler was not on the set at the time of the accident. They would have had to pay him overtime, the budget was small. Eventually, the CGI effects needed to finish the movie added $8 million to it. After 700 hours of investigation the police concluded that Brandon's death was an accident.

Quotes are from Brandon's last interview