The Crow (1994) - Alex Proyas

Plot - The night before Halloween, a young couple are attacked in their apartment by a gang, the man, Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) is murdered while the woman is raped and dies shortly from her injuries. A year later, Eric is seemingly resurrected by a crow and he sets off to deliver some very violent justice to the perpetrators.

Thoughts - I really quite liked this. It's got all the trapping of the era, the goth, grungy aesthetic that was popular, the lead character playing random rock riffs and everything is rainy. Really rainy. But it did appeal to me. The story itself is simple enough, man and his wife are murdered by a gang in vicious circumstances. For some reason, not really explained, the man is resurrected to wreak some vengeance, while looking very stylish. And that was the main thing that struck me from the film; it looks great, the Gothic feel ensures it feels 'out of time' so it's stood the test of time quite well. Proyas did Dark City four years later and he does have an engaging style.

Bandon Lee does give a nice rangy physicality to the role. When he's leaping across rooftops and beaing up bad guys it does feel like it's him doing so. It's a shame that he lost his life filming this since he could have really become a solid lead in thes type of films, a sort of up-market Mark Dacascos. Wait a minute......they do look remarkably similar The rest of the cast are the typical stock types you would expect, the cop who was demoted to the beat for following his concience, an orphan Annie, a psychopathic crime lord and Tony Todd What it lacks in characterisation and plot it makes up for in cinematography and the design of the film. Directed smartly by Proyas and with a compelling lead performance by Brandon Lee this is a more than watchable action thriller.

7/10