THE CROW (1994)

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"A whole jolly club with jolly pirate nicknames!"

This is one of my favorite movies of all time, starring one of my favorite superheroes of all time, The Crow. The Crow is infact based from a comic. This movie also will live on in the memories of everyone because of the stellar performance of Brandon Lee, who died in the making. God Rest His Soul In Peace!!!!!

The director of this movie is Alex Proyas, whom I've not heard of before, but did an excellent job with this movie. His visions working together with writer David J. Schow and the writer of the comics, James O'Barr, he brought this incredible vision to life.

The visuals of this movie are some of my favorites, even if they were technically the cause of Brandon Lee's death, due to a gun that was actually loaded with a real bullet instead of a blank. I like the dark look to the city, and how all the action sequences look, it's all so believable, and also I especially like the makeup that The Crow puts on, it looks so awesome, and makes the movie that much more intense, also the trained crow, or even if it was a robot, looked awesome and was really believable.

The storyline of this one is action packed, moving and funny, it's got all the aspects of a good movie, and it pulls it off very nicely. A woman is raped and as the rape is taking place her fiance walks in on it, and is thrown out the window and killed, the wife soon dies at the hospital. This all happens the night before Halloween, called Devil's Night, and it's also the night before their wedding. A year later that man returns to avenge his wife's rape and murder, as well as his own murder. I ran across this movie for the first time on HBO while I was channel surfing, and from the moment I started watching it, I couldn't STOP watching it. It was one of the best movies I've ever seen, and it still is!!!!!

The lead of this movie, Eric Draven, who becomes The Crow, is played by the late Brandon Lee, who does brilliantly. Eric Draven walks in on an entire gang of people raping his wife one night, and when he tries to save her they retaliate by stabbing and shooting him, and then throwing him out of the window. Well this all happens on Devil's Night, the night before Halloween, also the night before he and his wife Shelley were supposed to be married. A year later a crow is seen near his grave, and that night he returns to the land of the living so that he may avenge the his wifes rape and murder, as well as his own murder. He hunts down the gang killing them off, and finds out that they all were working under one man. That's when he meets the little girl he and Shelley used to take care of when her Mom neglected her. This girl's name is Sarah, and she gives Eric his heart. Brandon Lee's performance, rest in peace, in this movie was sensational. He was so good as this sort of clownish, yet intensley serious superhero, and I couldn't help but laugh when he did the weird things. He did an incredibly convincing and believable job.

Rochelle Davis made her debut appearance as well as her final appearance in this movie as Sarah, who is a little girl whose Mom has always neglected her because she was high or working or hanging out with her boyfriend, and was almost surely raised by her two best friends in the world Eric Draven and Shelley Webster and their cat, Gabriel. Then Eric and Shelley are murdered, and at the scene she meats a nice beat cop named Albrecht and he begins to care for her, buying her hot dogs and just generally being nice to her, but it's not the same without Eric and Shelley for her anymore. That's when she finds Eric and see's that he's back, but somehow she know's it's not for good. However, she still loves him and wants to spend time with him. Then, suddenly her mother begins to care for her again, acting motherly and such, and she knows just who to thank for that. Rochelle Davis did such an awesome job in this movie, and I can understand why after Brandon Lee died, she didn't want to do another movie again, but she was so convincing and funny with her character and she really did incredibly.

Ernie Hudson, who usually plays cops and does it well, plays Seargant Albrecht, an ex-detective who was forced into duty as a beat cop, and is constantly being pushed around by his former boss. He is on duty when the bodies of Eric Draven and Shelley Webster are found, and he spends the entire thirty hours with Shelley in the hospital as she fights for her life before dying. At the scene he meets a young girl named Sarah, and he begins to look out for her since Eric and Shelley no longer could. Soon though something begins killing off all of the deadbeats and gang memebers that had been plaguing the streets of the city, and he starts to investigate this vigilante, and then he meets him, The Crow, and shortly after their meeting he figures out who it is, and immediately starts to help Eric Draven out in his quest to find vengeance for his wife and himself. Ernie Hudson does an excellent job in this movie, and I love to see him as a cop because he's so convincing and believable with it, and such is the case with this movie. He did an excellent job and it really added to the movies greatness all the more.

Michael Wincott, who I don't really know as an actor except in this movie, plays Top Dollar, the huge crime lord of the entire city, and the man behind the creation of Devil's Night, a night where his henchman run around the city and set fire to the buildings, his little scheme has become an entire holiday complete with greeting cards. He is so feared that he doesn't even worry about police, and he even plans to set the entire city on fire so that he can go out with a bang. That is, at least until Eric Draven returns from the dead and begins messing everything up for him and his sister. It's all a memory for Top Dollar and he deals with it, but to no avail. All his henchmen are killed and yet he still goes on and on after Eric. He's incredibly ruthless and terrifying yet actually a comic in some points. Michael Wincott does an excellent job as a bad guy and he's so convincing because he just has that look that says don't "mess with me." His role is a tremendous one and it was a great casting call by the director.

Bai Ling, a very talented Chinese actress, plays Top Dollar's sister Myca in this movie. Myca is a mysterious, fortune-teller like woman who has a keen obsession with the eyes of a human being. She believes that they are the source of all of a human's power, and constantly burns the eyes of her brother's victim's so that she may gain that person's power. When Eric Draven returns from the dead she knows just the myth that fortold his coming and comes in useful to Top Dollar because she knows how to take the power from him. Bai Ling does excellent in this movie and she does such a creepy job with the character making the role so convincing and believable. She really adds to the creepiness that her and her Michael Wincott put out in this movie as brother and sister, and her on screen chemistry with Michael Wincott was just incredible.

All in all, I'd say that you must go out and by this movie right away, if you've not seen it. Don't waste money on the rental fee, just go and get it because it's one of the best movies made and you'll definitely enjoy it!!!!!