The Crow
The Crow
R | 11 May 1994 (USA)
The Crow Trailers

Exactly one year after young rock guitarist Eric Draven and his fiancée are brutally killed by a ruthless gang of criminals, Draven—watched over by a hypnotic crow—returns from the grave to exact revenge.

Reviews
ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.
Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
armands_briedis I think one my favourite movies of all time will always be The Crow. I was 10 the first time I saw it and I still watch it sometimes. It's one of the most visually stunning movies I have ever seen and they pulled it off more than 20 years ago without all the CGI technology we have today. It's a work of art in every frame. Story wise it's full of pain and loss, and the movie captures it so well that it always puzzles me how they could make such a dark and depressing story so beautiful and exciting at the same time. And then there's Brandon Lee - the actor of the main character who got accidentally killed on the set by a malfunctioning firearm. This fact alone makes the movie even more interesting as the movie itself questions the nature of death. This movie influenced me in such a way that I started to appreciate the beauty of all dark and scary things we experience. Most people usually look away when experiencing something negative, but I am always driven to understand it and appreciate it if nothing can be done about it. It's very interesting how art can change our personalities and the things we like. The Crow is the suppressed rage of poets and artists everywhere burning their oppressors on a dark wind-swept night and it's one of those movies that got many people interested in the goth culture and elevated it into a whole new level of popularity. At its heart it is a simple revenge movie; a soul drawn back to a corrupt living world to punish those that killed him and his fiance, but the way it's portrayed sets it apart from similar movies. It's a dark journey in a post-industrial hell-scape in search of those who wronged him. If you're looking for something dark and beautiful, this is it.
Alan Smithee Esq. One of the absolute best comic book movies ever and this was before there were seemingly dozens of them being made every year. Brandon Lee gives such an intense and emotional performance that is made even more chilling considering that he died while it was filming. A dark super hero film that will probably be re-booted at some point but it's got very big shoes to fill. Plus there's no topping this soundtrack filled with lots of ear- candy songs that you'll want to enjoy after the film is over. But avoid all the sequels, unless you're a die hard fan of the series.
gorf The Crow is based on James O'Barr's independent comic book by the same name. Both the comic book and the movie are dark stories of revenge. The movie takes some liberties with the material, but is mostly faithful. The comic book has some beautiful illustrations, and the movie looks and sounds good (the music by Graeme Revell)...unfortunately, the story is crap.It's just a supernatural rock version of Death Wish. A man gets wronged by evil scumbags and kills almost everyone. The only difference is that while Kersey from Death Wish takes the law into his own hands, Draven is sent back against his will, to enact some kind of weird, divine retribution. And Draven doesn't even have a mustache...It's no surprise then that the movie is very violent (but mild compared to the comic book). It is a story about revenge, after all. People are stabbed, burned, slashed, thrown out of windows, impaled etc. One of the villains cuts out women's eyes. The same villain gets her own eyes pecked out by a crow. The assault on Draven and his wife is disturbing. There's some nudity in it. And the main villain is sleeping with his sister for some reason. Probably to show how evil and twisted he is. None of it made the movie any better. You could remove the nudity and creepy sex stuff, and tone down the violence a lot and still have a dark and gritty story. Just watch Nolan's Batman trilogy.The "land of the dead" must be a confusing place. Sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring souls back to put the wrong things right...but what happens to the people who are murdered by Eric Draven, where do they go? And what about Draven's wife? Where is she? Probably in the land of the dead. But, if she's in the land of the dead, why does Draven return? She shows up again at the end, and like Princess Peach from Super Mario, she's Draven's reward for murdering a lot of evil goombas.Maybe that's the idea? The land of the dead is the "first level" of the afterlife, and some lucky souls are sent back for a chance to reach the next level, where their beautiful wives wait for them. They just have to prove their worth by slaughtering King Koopa. But, what would happen to Eric Draven if he died in the church? Would the crow take him back to the land of the dead? What if T-Bird, Skank etc. Were there too? Awkward!Maybe I'm over-analyzing it? Anyway, it's not a very good movie, but then again, the comic book isn't very good either. It's a pointless story. Just some guy slaughtering a lot of evil people. There's no real message here...wouldn't it be more interesting if Draven came back and found out that some of the killers regretted their evil deeds? We have seen the "they killed his wife, poisoned his goldfish and made annoying slurping sounds last time they drank a soda at McDonald's...now, he's back" stuff before. It rarely ends with anything other than blood and death. I would love to see a story like this that ends with mercy and forgiveness.There are some good parts in the movie, like the scenes with Draven and the girl, and the last scene where Draven is reunited with his wife. It's just sad that those beautiful scenes are wasted on a crappy movie like this. It's also very sad that Brandon Lee died during the making of The Crow...rest in peace.Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish The Crow could bring me my time and money back.
mistoppi I've watched a lot of movies that are about revenge, and most of them are just action movies that don't really capture the darkness of revenge and the human soul in those kind of movies. The Crow is one of the very few revenge themed movies that is as dark as needed, and it doesn't exactly make revenge seem more glorious than it is. The Crow is brutal and violent, but there are also some really beautiful, comforting parts, which make the film stand out from the typical films of the genre.The cinematography is amazing, it's like a beautiful comic book. There's a lot of contrast, loads of black, but still surprisingly much colour. The palette is breathtaking. The cinematography is gruesomely beautiful, considering what they show and what they don't show, and how it's shown.The soundtrack is great, but a bit surprising here and there. Then again, of course such a goth classic would use The Cure in the soundtrack.The Crow is an enchanting, beautiful yet brutal movie, and it's definitely worth watching. Even if you don't care about the genre or a story, what happened to Brandon Lee should be enough to pique your interest.