I think it’s safe to say that I’m a fan of James O’Barr’s work The Crow.
I am such a fan that there’s a ton of trivia about this in my head that I can spout off and nerd out about. I’ll be doing that here shortly.
I remember a friend of mine coming into town. He lived about a fourty-five minute drive away from us and he had access to comic shops that we barely did. We always traded comics among us. We’d spend time reading them and then one weekend, he comes over with this graphic novel. I look at it and, upon first glance, I wasn’t impressed but then he tells me to read it. Take it home. I was a little stunned by that. We rarely, if ever did that. He stayed next door to my friend at the end of the street at his grandparents’ house. I took it home. I read it that night.
I was blown away. This was gut-wrenching to read. Being the kid who was getting into rock n’ roll at the time, I wanted this comic book. I was finding out about bands like Joy Division, I loved the poetry, the stark contrast in imagery, the mythology, the brutal revenge story and the overall look of the character of Eric Draven. Being a fan of authors like Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft at that young age (and just about ready to enter high school after that summer) this book piqued my interest. I had to have a copy which meant, I was going to have to come up with a monumental trade offer.
Nothing worked. The guy wouldn’t let go of it for anything. I tried to figure out ways to come up with the money to give to him to get me a copy and my parents were pretty adamant they weren’t giving me a dime.
It was frustrating because it was the only time I’d ever read it or seen it. Times when I had money, I’d scour the comic shops only to find, much to my disappointment, it was out of print not long after I’d seen it.
When news of the movie dropped, and I found out it would star Brandon Lee whom I’d seen in Big Trouble In Little Tokyo, I was elated. Seeing this on the big screen would be amazing. The revenge kills, the poetic deaths, it would have to have a hell of a soundtrack for sure!
Then, for some reason, Stone Temple Pilots’ song Big Empty played during the trailers.
Wait, rewind. First, we all thought the entire production had been completely cooked when news of Brandon Lee’s death emerged. An accident on set…not good. He left behind so much. This would have been his breakout role. Needless to say, it became an obsession with me because the book was such that I really wanted to see this movie made and now, it looked like that was over and done.
Then more news, apparently, the director and producers were able to figure out a way around Lee’s death. Well, we were all hoping it wouldn’t suck. We doubted it would.
Then the trailers hit TV.
Again, I was blown smooth away. Holy shit they looked amazing but Stone Temple Pilots? I didn’t get it. This was maybe a year later that this trailer surfaced. MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball featured a video by Helmet called Milquetoast which had scenes from the movie interspersed through the video. The Soundtrack was advertised on TV featuring Helmet, Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails, Pantera, Henry Rollins and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. Okay, we’d give that one an honest-to-goodness shot. Pantera was one of our favorites, so was Nine Inch Nails.
Then the movie dropped. I waited for VHS and when I got to see it. Again, I was blown away. I did notice some differences but Lee looked amazing and played his part extremely well. Ernie Hudson and Michael Wincott did amazing jobs in their roles. Bai Ling was straight up creepy in her own role with her obsession with taking eyes.
Differences between book and movie aside, I was a total fan.
Now, the sequels…I enjoyed them. Why? Because I managed to get my hands on The Crow: Flesh & Blood, The Crow: Wild Justice and The Crow: Waking Nightmares. Each of these titles featured a different person being brought back from the dead, each one had a different face, each one…even had a different mythology to the titular Crow. I was completely into all of them, though I wouldn’t recommend making Flesh & Blood a movie today.
Recently, I saw this and you should see it too. If you haven’t seen the first movie starring Brandon Lee from 1994, put a pin right here, go watch that movie and then see this trailer…
This…it’s not impressive to me.
I won’t lie, I’m super-apprehensive to this one. Let’s get the obvious out of the way, Skarsgard’s character looks a lot like Jared Leto’s Joker. The face…also not a fan. I’m not sure what this movie is trying to be here. It looks like an emo version of John Wick.
Also, who the hell are the antagonists here? The murder scene? It has no impetus there. A suffocation? Really? Because Shelley saw something that happened once? How long have these people been looking for her? All of the bad guys look generic as hell.
There are some things going for it, though. For starters, James O’Barr did expand on the love story between Eric and Shelley. There is some beautiful artwork to go with it and I think they want that to be the focal point of the story in the movie but saving her? No. The entire point of the story is to avenge death. The Crow: City of Angels did the bit where Ash Corvin’s son comes back at the end and combined with the studio interference, that probably killed the movie.
I won’t be going to the theater to see it. I’ll wait on this one. I did with the 1994 movie (because theater access was extremely limited) and did so with the sequels, which I enjoyed to one level or another but this one, I’m going to wait. I hope it does well. I hear test screenings are going extremely well for it but then again, we are talking about a generation that hasn’t seen the 1994 original yet. I should know. I talked to some of the people I worked with and only one has ever seen it.
I found the graphic novel at a secondhand book store about two or three years ago. Naturally, I didn’t have money at the time so I had the owner hold a copy for me. I was back the moment I had the cash in hand. That bookstore isn’t there anymore and it’s a shame. I should have picked up another copy.
I bought the action figure the day it landed at work. Our assistant manager saw it and immediately brought it to my attention. Naturally I picked it up that day. It sits, ironically, next to my Bruce Lee action figure who’s book-ended by The Crow…and John Wick. Fitting, for the purposes of this article.
This made being a goth cool. It made black clothing, trenchcoats and much more cool and this was five years before The Matrix ever hit theaters. The soundtrack was a gateway to other bands I hadn’t listened to. It was very very nineties in all the best ways possible. The soundtrack to it’s sequel was even a banger with White Zombie’s cover to K.C. And The Sunshine Band’s I’m Your Boogeyman just hitting harder than a Mike Tyson combo.
The graphic novel itself was written by James O’Barr who used the artwork and story as an outlet for his grief from losing his wife-to-be in a drunk driving accident. It was the personification of the rage and desire for revenge for what had been taken from him. I can’t say I blame him. It was amazing work and created a cultural touchstone for Generation Xers like myself.
Personally, I think this new movie should have, like the sequels, been it’s own thing. In fact, with a little reworking, it could have easily been The Crow: Wild Justice which was an extremely brutal revenge tale in itself, complete with it’s own background steeped in Greek Mythology. In fact, I recommend you read it sometime.
The marks you see on this character are Gorgon Blood markings which fade as he takes damage, giving him that limit on how much damage he could take but his revenge kills are so vicious that they’d fit in with the world. That would easily explain the tattoos. It’s been a long time since I read this particular title. I should find it and read it again. I remember liking it a hell of a lot.
The Crow: Waking Nightmares would even make a good movie with this one focusing on Asian culture. This time it’s a cop who’s family and himself were murdered by the Yakuza and the police are in a race against the clock to find out who’s killing Yakuza guys suspected of murdering one of their own and his wife and kids. The part that will ultimately turn stomachs, the marks on the resurrected protagonist are blood trails. The Yakuza took his eyes after they killed his wife and two daughters while they made him watch. The ending…is particularly uncomfortable.
In any case, The Crow, as far as titles go, does have a different protagonist with each new series, giving the case for movie sequels a definite precedence. The only problem with the sequels is that they’ve kept O’Barr from any creative input or consultancy, instead, in the case of Hollywood doing Hollywood shit, making cheap cash-grabs.
If you haven’t read the original, I highly recommend reading it. Sure, some of the antagonists are a bit cartoonish but when you read it, you’ll truly understand why the movie starring Brandon Lee is so iconic. Certainly, some of the effects haven’t aged well, particularly with the scenes of plummeting to a certain untimely death but I’m hoping that this movie is good. I hope it does well. I hope I’m wrong.
I just think that it’s tone is all wrong. I love the use of light and shadow in the original book and movie.
As Eric said in the book, “My God…The Shadows…”
If you’d like to see a breakdown of the differences between the book and the movie, hit me up in the comments down below or we can just discuss it there.
I think ypu hit the nail on the head. I watched the trailer and aside from the Ozzy song, I was just watching a poor re imagined low budget rip off of the real movie.
Wtf happened to cinematographers these days? What are they teaching in film and writing?