Josh-da-man

Loved it when I saw it back in '94.

I bought the trilogy boxed set dirt cheap a few years ago and discovered it didnt' hold up well at all. There are some atrocious performances from a number of players, a lot of cheese, and the high-handed moralism turned my stomach more than I remembered.

The soundtrack is still awesome, though.

mndtrp

I like the movie, although a lot less than I used to. The second one is decent, but the rest are useless.

Like most have said, the soundtrack is one of the best.

meritocracy

Saw a Midnight preview with a packed audience the day before it opened nationwide.

Flaws were evident even then, but I felt it stayed true to O'Barr's graphic novel, and left having enjoyed it. I own it, although, I'll be the first to admit it honestly doesn't hold up all that well. The soundtrack on the other hand...that still rocks.

The sequels are complete trash.

Michael Corvin

Great film. One of my favorites, even though it doesn't hold up as well. Had a great cast of characters. Villians as memorable as the main character, which is always a plus. There were some great fight scenes as well as gunplay scenes that have been all but copied since its release.

City of Angels isn't perfect, but it is a pretty good film. You have to view it on its own merits and not as a sequel. The only thing holding it back from being as good as the original was the enemies. Totally forgetable bad guys.

Don't forget the Matrix.

There is supposedly a TON of SE worthy material in Proyas' possession. The current DVD is a producers cut. I believe there is a daily doc just like the one shot for I, Robot. Apparently those two are/were at odds with each other. At the time the producer(forget his name) was in the process of pitching Salvation to the studio. He essentially dangled the third film in front of the studio to get control of the DVD release of the original. In hindsight I wonder what the studio thinks now.

devilshalo

He is not invincible. His discovery that he cannot be harmed misleads him because he is tied into the crow. And Top Dollar discovers this towards the end, much to Eric's surprise.

zombiezilla

Love this flick. And my copy is signed by James O'Barr, too! He does the occasional comic-con here in DFW.

Supermallet

I still watch this now and again. It's fun, but Dark City is Proyas' masterpiece.

RocShemp

Agreed.

Xander

Love this movie. I think the characters are great, some truly great fight scenes, atmosphere is good, and the visuals are nice too.

I think the problem with the second one was the villains weren't nearly as entertaining. They were all boring and you didn't care that he was going after them. Other than that, the actual Crow actor (can't remember who it was) was pretty decent and the visuals were good. Haven't seen any past the second one.

DVD Josh

IMHO, Dark city is one of the most overrated movies of all time. The Crow smokes it.

PixyJunket

It was awesome when I was in angst-ridden in high school.. now, not so much.

james2025a

I for one loved the movie and still watch it now and again. The sequels were horrible. But to address your points:

1. If you watched the movie he is not invincible. If you kill the Crow you kill the man. That why at the end he begins to bleed and feel pain. So i thyink it works well in the movie. He goes into every fight believing he cannot eb beaten right up until the end when someone finds his weakness.

2. Well Brandon Lee was likeable. The bad guys were maybe not as colourful as a lot of other movies villains, but they did the job of playing scum bags. There are times when you don't want to like the bad guy. Case in point.

3. The dialog in most comic book adaptations is usually not that great....but thats what most people expect. They don't go into these movies expecting a rendition of Shakespeare. It worked enough to not be noticeable IMO.

4. The style is one of the best things about the movie. Up until the release of this movie most if not all comic book adaptations were colourful and bright. It made a change to see a movie that was darker both figuratively and literarily. The soundtrack was excellent and still stands the test of time.

I think that the movie's best thing was Brandon Lee, and its a shame that he died. Alexa Proyas is talented, but after this movie his movie have gone steadily down hill. He needs to get back on track.

Goat3001

Agreed on all points.

I loved it when I first saw it and now I think its just ok.

MechanicalMan

@ james2025a

1. I haven't seen the movie since '94 or '95, and I'd forgotten the thing about killing the crow. So he can't be injured unless you kill a bird. I still think it's pretty stupid.

2. I don't blame Lee for it, but I didn't think Draven was likable. Doesn't he act arrogant and make sarcastic comments when he's killing people? That probably worked better in the comic. I thought the character should have been portrayed as simply being remorseless about what he is doing -- not joking and behaving like he enjoys it. It was too silly and over the top, and it meant that Draven was being kind of a dick during a lot of the movie (and seemingly behaving like a completely different person than he was when he was alive). The "other side" of Draven, when he's mournfully thinking of Shelly or giving someone "30 hours of pain all at once," is also silly and melodramatic. Anyway, I just didn't like the character very much.

3. Yes, and I hate most other comic book movies as well. I think Batman Begins is the only comic book movie that I've really enjoyed. And I was still annoyed by the lame comedic moments with Jim Gordon in that movie. Oh, and I did also like Sin City... to my surprise.

4. The soundtrack is ok. I did listen to the soundtrack in the mid 90s, even though I disliked the film. But I think the movie's whole goth, comic book style is really cheesy. Honestly, I felt a little too mature for this movie when I saw it in the theater. And I was 15.

rennervision

I know the actual footage of Brandon Lee getting killed was destroyed - but does anyone know in which scene this happened? My guess is when he's standing on the table and everyone is unloading their weapons on him.

GuruTwo

No, it's the actual death of the character in the film when he's attacked by the gang.

Actor Michael Massee (who played Funboy) actually pulled the trigger and shot the fatal bullet. I guess he was pretty messed up over it. It obviously wasn't his fault but I can't imagine how he must feel about it.

That was a result of the film not being finished at the time of Lee's death.

There was another character played by Michael Berryman of "The Hills Have Eyes", he was essentially the grim reaper (in "The Crow" he's known as the Skull Cowboy) and he "revokes" Draven's powers due to all the non-revenge meddling he's been doing. The Skull Cowboy makeup effects were supposedly not up to snuff yet the scenes were so Draven/Lee heavy that the reshoots necessary to include the character were impossible.

Josh H

Actually, I believe it was during a take of that scene, but not the take that's used in the film. I believe they did say they destroyed that particular segment of film where he was actually shot.

GuruTwo

Yeah, it was destroyed. I didn't specifically say that the footage was used. I was saying that the scene they were filming when Brandon Lee is shot is the scene where his character dies in the film.

rennervision

Interesting. So with today's technology, they could literally CGI a new and improved Skull Cowboy into those scenes and we could have a new cut of this film!

GuruTwo

Skull Cowboy scene (it is pretty cheesy):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ciDeoMDAPMA

Michael Massee on "Extra" talking about shooting Lee:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zjn3WqsvE_Q

LivingINClip

First you complain he can't be killed. Then when someone points out you're wrong and that infact, he can be harmed and killed, you complain about that. That, I think is pretty stupid. The whole him being tied to the crow is a central theme from the comics.

They raped and murdered his fiance. They pushed him out a window. Of course when he comes back he enjoys killing them. Why wouldn't he?

To mature for a movie? Now that has to be the silliest thing I've ever read.

Dead

MechanicalMan, personal attacks are against forum rules. If you can't discuss the topic without insulting other members, then please just don't post in the thread.

Michael Corvin

I know we are going in circles as you have your mind set on a movie you haven't seen in a dozen years but Draven and Shelly were killed the night before their wedding. Wouldn't that piss you off a bit? Piss you off enough to get a little enjoyment out of killing the people that did that to you and your fiance?

As for the "other side" of Draven, it's called balance. The plot would fall apart if it was strictly action based revenge. What would his motivation be if he didn't mourn the loss of his bride-to-be? He'd come back kill everyone in 40 minutes and then what? You need the softer pre-death, I'm a lover not a fighter balance for the movie to work. It lets the viewer know that this is still the same love-struck rocker from before death and not just a ruthless killing machine.

And this is why the sequels fail. They fail to give us a likable character to begin with and just end up with the ruthless killer. That is also why City of Angels works on some level compared to the other two.

Jeraden

Don't forget about the tv show Crow: Stairway to Heaven that was on in the late 90s. It wasn't as good as the first movie, but I thought it was a pretty solid show and worth watching - though its been years since I've seen it. Its out on DVD too.

Michael Corvin

It's coming out on DVD July 24th. And once you get past the first few episodes, which was a recreation of the movie, then it is pretty good.