The Crow: Film Review

“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 cannot rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right”

Such is the story of Eric Draven, a struggling musician from the dark streets of Detroit. Stabbed and thrown from a third story window the night before his wedding, as his fiancé, Shelly Webster, is beaten and raped in their home – she dies a day later in hospital – their killers are not convicted and justice is not served, at least not by the police.

In this the ultimate tragic love story, Brandon Lee takes up his final role as vengeance seeking dead-man Eric Draven in arguably the best – and darkest – film of his career.

Fuelled by anger and powered by his supernatural abilities – which allow him to heal instantly and  see through the eyes of his crow familiar – he sets off to track down those responsible for his death and his fiancé‘s torture.

Crawling from his grave on devils night – the night before Halloween when buildings across the city are set ablaze – he hunts down the gang of thugs and turns their own tricks against them as weapons turn on their owners and buildings explode in his wake.

Amongst the carnage, Sarah, a young girl whom Shelly and Eric took care of before they died, discovers Eric’s resurrection and attempts to help him in his quest, all the while trying to overcome her difficult relationship with her mother – a problem Eric himself solves after he interrupts a morphine hazed fling between herself and ‘Fun Boy’, one of his targets.

Lee is stunningly believable in this awesome film, which could so easily have been destroyed by poor acting. Thankfully, however, that was definitely not an issue in this dark film which, sadly, shadows the tragic end of Lee’s own life on the set.

With the Lee family curse striking again, at least we can be thankful that Brandon Lee left one hell of a memorial in his wake.