I was just about to graduate high school in 1994 and the only thing more popular than blowing off your final classes to hang out with friends was the movie The Crow. Bolstered to pulp culture status immediately thanks to an amazing soundtrack and tragic, untimely death of rising star Brandon Lee, the film was all over MTV and the news. The son of Bruce Lee, Brandon’s performance was charismatic, intense, and certainly well deserving of praise and likely would have resulted into him catapulting to superstardom for many years, so this was a loss that was felt by the movie industry. Combine that with it being one of the first non-Marvel or DC comic book adaptations and a fashion sense tailor made for Hot Topic sales, and the film became a surprise smash hit.
Over the years this film has been talked about a lot, perhaps a little too much, but for usually the same tragic reasons. Lost in the discourse concerning Lee’s death are the contributions made by everyone else in this film. For a time it seemed that the wonderful and stylish visuals from director Alex Proyas would bring him fame and fortune. While his career hasn’t turned out to be as star making as I would’ve thought, it doesn’t take away from his well constructed, rainy and despair filled city on the verge of Hell Night destruction that sets the mood for this revenge soaked tale. You don’t get a revenge movie without something to avenge, and that plot device comes at the hands of the group deserving of more recognition.
The supporting cast.
During the film, Eric Draven’s (Brandon Lee) driving force for spilling blood is the awful death of his girlfriend Shelly at the hands of a sadistic gang led by Top Dollar. While the name is certainly ridiculous, the casual creepiness exhibited by the distinctly voiced Michael Wincott is not. Alongside his right hand woman Myca, played by the bananas Bai Ling, he oversees a city on the verge of being swallowed by hell itself. He’s not a man to be crossed and menace oozes from his casual sadism. While not afraid to get his hands dirty, he leaves the majority of the mayhem to his band of perfectly cast misfits. Those of you familiar with David Patrick Kelly from the Warriors will not be surprised that he has aged well into the role of T-Bird, the more vocal member of the group. He may have put on some years, but his eyes still burn with insanity. Alongside him is the ironically named Funboy, played by yet another one of those actors who can give you the creeps with a slight stare, Michael Massee. Although he might spend most of his time fucked up and high, he’s more than willing to do his part to degrade anyone he comes into contact with. Completing the team are Skank (Angel David) and Tin Tin (Laurence Mason) as the weasel and the muscle.
A hero is only as good as his villains and thanks to this wacky named cast of characters, Draven has his hands full. We are lucky enough to watch it all unfold as each unique bad guy gets taken down in a wide variety of ways and hopefully appreciate that these guys truly chewed each piece of scenery that they could. In a genre where far too often the bad guys are just the mirror reflection of the hero or a poor replacement, it’s nice to cheer for the downfall of such a variety of personalities.
Rated 4 out of 5 Stars
