The Crow (1994) ***1/2

Alex Proyas' The Crow (1994) was an important film for me as a teenager. I'm fairly certain that I saw it multiple times when it was released theatrically (it celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday). I've owned it on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and now 4K UHD (looking the best it ever has)—I've watched it many times. Over the years, it's lost some of its luster, but I still like a lot about it. The film's soundtrack was perhaps even more important to me and I still like it a lot as well.

Though it's nowhere near as egregious as in Dark City (1998) (review), the same rapid fire editing that I really dislike is also present in The Crow. It's almost as if Proyas either doesn’t get enough coverage or trims down way too much in the editing—there are all these connective shots that seem to be missing. As in DC, The Crow also features wonderful production and costume design, but Proyas never gives it enough time to be appreciated or the film enough time to breathe. His music video background (not necessarily a bad thing) is glaringly obvious (seriously, enough with the strobing lights, Alex) and I don't find that he shoots action scenes all that well.

The Crow is full of noir and goth aesthetic, tragedy, humor, a great (though underused) cast, fun (though underdeveloped) characters, and an undeniably affecting performance by Brandon Lee, but the overall execution ultimately leaves this viewer wanting. The same types of visual ideas and themes were better conveyed prior to this in similar big budget comic book/superhero movies like RoboCop (1987) (review), Batman (1989) (review), and Batman Returns (1992) (review).