What About It?
"The Crow" is on the surface a very simple story, a straight ahead revenge tale, with supernatural elements. We're told in the beginning that "sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right." The simple story is a very old, personal and powerful one. Certainly we're all familiar with things that happen that are so wrong, it would seem that nothing could ever make it right, hopefully just because we've heard about them. Here, we're dealing with the rape and murder of Eric Draven's fiance, and of course, to a lesser extent, his own murder. Obviously in reality, we don't get this opportunity. And "The Crow" is very honest about what it wants. We're not steered toward a happy ending. Nothing can be erased. This young couple suffered and were killed and that can't be undone.
In the world of The Crow, we have only the knowledge that at least the wrongdoers will pay for what they've done. It's like a possible answer to the question asked many times, as far back as the Biblical book of Jeremiah, which asks "Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?" There's never been a good answer to this question unless answering with the hereafter works for you. Any help of that sort must be limited, because if you're asking the question, you're in this world. Certainly grief is not lessened by talk of mysterious ways or a reminder of the randomness in of the universe. If someone who was everything to you was lost due to cruelty, there's nothing that could make it ok.
But if we could do something, what would we do? Where would we start? Revenge is one answer, and one of the oldest stories in the world, because these dilemmas are just as old. The well known saying about digging two graves, is avoided here, because that already happened. And this isn't just any revenge, this is a man brought back from the dead just to kill the people who so greatly wronged him. For most of the film, we know that the people who committed the crimes, don't have a chance. As Eric tells Gideon "Tell them, death is coming." We can sit secure in the knowledge that an inescapable death is surely on its way to each of these men. We don't have to wrestle with moral quandaries, as we do when the government executes people. These are the guilty parties. They're all monsters and they're going to get what they gave. Eric Draven doesn't need to feel any guilt, this job is the only reason he exists. His actions are so justified that the universe brought him back to life to accomplish them.
But even so, the world of the film makes us ask other questions. The city where the events occur is beyond bleak. The world is perpetual rain and darkness. We meet one policeman who cares about his job, and he's demoted for asking questions.Half of the city is always in flames and no one can do anything about it. Top Dollar pulls the strings behind everything. The surprising thing is that any goodness can exist in this world at all, as it's so overwhelming. "It can't rain all the time." Eric tells, Sarah, but it sure seems to. Set against this landscape, a little goodness is forced to go a long way. And it does. As T-Bird liked to quote "Abashed the devil stood and beheld how awful goodness is." Evil is confronted using its own methods. While good is typically passive, the tables are turned and good is out to actively pursue it's own vendetta, so much so, that it doesn't look like "goodness" anymore, although perhaps it is. An effective element of the story is the surprise that the murderers feel that this could happen. They are comfortable in the knowledge that no one can touch them, but now they're being eliminated by someone who is more untouchable than them. They know it's coming but they must wait in terror. Still this isn't punishment equal to the crime, for that to happen we'd have to make the murderers innocent and then punish them unfairly. That, or make them feel remorse, which they don't seem capable of understanding. At best, it's a start. It's something, when previously there was nothing at all.
While it's clear that Eric is driven by what happened to Shelly, what happened to him bears mentioning. He comes back to life, not even knowing what he is. We see him stumbling out of the grave as he figures out how to walk again. He isn't invulnerable, he can be hurt, but it heals immediately. Certainly he isn't the same guy coming out of the grave as the one who went in. He knows his identity, but knows that he's dead. We see that he tries to avoid Sarah knowing he's there. Although he cares about her welfare, he tells her they can't really be friends because he's dead. He retains much of his humanity,as we see in interactions with Albrecht and Sarah, but his movements and speech are all off. The delight he feels in doling out punishment is certainly contrary to the guy he once was. He was brought back by his own "terrible sadness." and feels no urge at all, to stick around. He wants nothing more than to reunite with Shelly and be able to tell her that he did something about what happened t them. But here, it isn't even as simple as he thinks it is. He executes the men directly involved, but still can't rest, not until he faces Top Dollar, the man behind the actions. Top Dollar and Myca are a good illustration of the mismatch between good and evil. Even brought back from the dead, Eric's supernatural gifts don't seem enough to deal with them. His invulnerability is taken from him and in the end it's only the purest gesture that evens things out. Where the murderers were murdered because that's the closest thing to justice that was available, it isn't enough for the man behind it. The only thing that stops him is Eric giving him back thirty hours of the pain he caused in one second. That's really Eric's quest, to give back that pain. He must fall back to something more in the realm of good, not a weapon, but a "gift."
Alex Proyas, does a wonderful job creating this nightmare landscape. You won't find any blues and greens in this world, because it's too dark for that. This is where you live, when there's no hope at all and your onlyidea of an angel has arrived to murder people. The soundtrack feeds into it well all hard rock and metal music, to reinforce the lack of softness. Everything is hard edges here, crumbling walls and rooftops. We get that Eric is relieved to return to the grave, because even under the best of circumstances, it isn't easy to live in this city. The world of "The Crow" was based on James O'Barr's graphic novel, although there were certainly changes made for the sake of the screen. Still, for its time it was an outstanding example of a comic book brought to film well. This was long before the explosion of quality comic book movies. It still stands apart as it isn't really a super hero story, but the spirit of it comes through. It's telling that O'Barr, speaking of the story, departs from the conventional school of catharsis. It didn't help in that way, he's said, there was only anger in the story. That comes through, although the film softens things a bit. But in the end, we can't escape the conclusion that nothing living or dead can even the scales and make what happened acceptable. This is simply an attempt to imagine, what could "goodness" do?
Of course, the film is also well known for being the film in which the lead actor, Brandon Lee was accidentally killed while making. It was very nearly never released due to the tragedy. I recall reading interviews with Lee before it came out, and he was very proud of his work and excited to show it to everyone. His excitement is justified, as the part he plays here is a strong one and he manages to make all the contradictions of the character believable. He's an unstoppable force of vengeance, as well as in some ways, very vulnerable, and neither makes the other less believable. Although he was an accomplished martial artist, he tailored his movements here, to the character, not showing any martial arts, but the clumsy grace of a man who isn't afraid to get hurt. A perfect example is when he bats away Tin Tin's knife as if it were a baseball. He falls backwards from a rooftop and laughs landing on his back. This isn't a martial artist, although he clearly has his own way of moving. The film was dedicated to Brandon Lee and his fiance, Eliza, and it's a better memorial than most get. An actor in his greatest role. Like the story, it doesn't make anything ok, but it's something, and Lee lives on in a way, for anyone watching his work here.
The supporting cast is solid as well. I really enjoyed Ernie Hudson's performance. His Albrecht is a good contrast for Eric Draven, a lawman whose hands are tied, and has dealt with the system enough to know there's little he can do. His conversations with Eric are the most humanizing moments in the film and it helps to think that at least one person would try to help Eric with his quest, although he ultimately just ends up getting hurt. Albrecht is more of a conventional representation of "goodness" His biggest contributions are passive ones. He sat with Shelly while she died which ends up being instrumental. He looks out for Sarah. He doesn't avenge anything, just tries to help where he can.
Michael Wincott is great as Top Dollar. His raspy pirate like presence, makes him a fitting counterpart for Eric Draven. The bizarre bits of his background tell us that he's more twisted than we could likely know, given a cemetery snowglobe by his father when he was five, his too loving relationship with his half sister, and their shared fascination with eye balls among other things. He's an agent of chaos, and his biggest fear is simply boredom. He's an apex predator without conscience, and Eric's gift of pain is likely very alien to him.
T-Bird's crew are all effective in their parts, each facing their deaths in their own ways, according to their characters. Rochelle Davis is a good choice for Sarah, and her character provides the only lasting hope in the film when Eric "awakens" her mother Darla, who returns home to cook breakfast for the first time in ages. Even so, we see that she is unsure about her own fitness as a mother. Sarah must intervene and encourage her, and despite her own hurt and anger, she does. This was not part of Eric's quest, but it's perhaps the most significant and enduring "goodness" that occurs. Men like T-Bird and Top Dollar are not going to be changed (except in death here) but Sarah may have a chance, although it's much less without a mother "the word for God." So, we end up where we started in a world with very little hope. A dead man rises to settle a score and then returns to death, but Sarah is where the story would continue. It's a very small hope for the future, but it can stretch a long way due to contrast. And like most of what happens in the film, it isn't enough, but it's something, a meditation on pain put back where it belongs.
What Happens?
The film opens with an overhead view of a dark city, that's partly burning. We're told it's "October 30th - Devil's Night" We zoom in for a closer look at the run down buildings and fires. A young girl tells us in voice over, "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 can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right."
