Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by
Pioneer LDCE

• Cat.no: PLFEB 36561
• Cert: 18
• Running time: 98 minutes
• Sides: 2 (CLV)
• Year: 1994
• Pressing: 1997
• Chapters: 17 (9/8)
• Sound: Dolby Surround
• Presented in Fullscreen
• Price: £24.99
• Extras : None

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  Director:

  Alex Proyas

  Producers:

  Edward R. Pressman and Jeff Most

  Screenplay:

  David J. Schow and John Shirley (based on the comic book series and comic strip by James O'Barr)

  Music:

  Graeme Revell (Hard Target, The Saint)

  Cast:

  Eric: Brandon Lee (Rapid Fire, Showdown In Little Tokyo, Legacy of Rage, Soldier of Fortune)
  Sarah: Michelle Davis
  Albrecht: Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, Leviathan, Congo, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, No Escape)
  Top Dollar: Michael Wincott (Alien: Resurrection, Strange Days, Metro, 1492 - Conquest of Paradise, Basquiat, Dead Man)
  T-Bird: David Patrick Kelly (Wheels Of Terror)
  Grange: Tony Todd (Candyman, Candyman 2: Farewell To The Flesh, The Rock, Night of the Living Dead - The Remake)
  Darla: Anna Levine Thompson (Bad Boys, True Romance, Unforgiven, Talk Radio, Fatal Attraction, Wall Street)
  Gideon: Jon Polito (Blankman, Bushwacked, Fluke, Miller's Crossing)

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The premise for this film goes like this :

...and so after Eric's return to his apartment, which shows a flashback to the fateful night, he puts on some make-up to fit in with the Halloween crowd and then sets off to wreak vengeance until all the gang are dead including the leader, Top Dollar.

For Brandon, just as he was beginning to break into the mainstream film market, this one was to be his last. Just as his father was killed in a suspicious accident, a scene on The Crow involving a handgun being put to Brandon's head led to his death. The gun was meant to contain only blanks, but instead contained some form of projectile and as the trigger pulled it led to his death. A bizarre coincidence considering his role as a dead rock star.

As his death occured before filming was complete, the crew had to create the rest of the film around footage of Brandon already shot, which included placing him in other scenes digitally such as the one following his resurrection, in which he was visualised walking through the door to his apartment with holes in the roof and raining dripping through, whereas he was actually filmed walking through a dark, rain-soaked alley.

Other films of his include the action-packed Showdown In Little Tokyo, in which he starred alongside Dolph Lundgren. After Rapid Fire, had he not met such an untimely death, a sequel would have been made - the script of which had already been written but was later tweaked to fit a certain action trilogy and became the basis for 1995's "Die Hard With A Vengeance" starring Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson and Jeremy Irons. A sequel was made to the Crow in 1996, "Crow 2: City of Angels", but that one starred Vincent Perez in the title role.

The rest of the cast is filled out by Ernie Hudson as Albrecht, the overworked and underpaid cop who thought he'd put this case to bed a year ago, Michael Wincott as Top Dollar, a bad guy with as many one-liners to his credit as bullets in his gun, and a host of Top Dollars henchmen.

The picture quality is very crisp, and while being fullscreen, on comparison with the NTSC release, it shows that the fullscreen version has some extra information at the top and bottom of the picture while losing a sliver of information at the sides. The film will have been shot full-frame, but masked to 1.85:1 for cinema presentation.

One thing to note is that while the PAL release treats some of the areas where darkness meets light as a straight-forward contrast between black and white, the NTSC release brings an added blue light into the proceedings, making the scenes look a bit brighter, which begs the question why has the PAL transfer had to make do with a darker transfer? That's not to mention why this release is fullscreen in the first place when the US market has recently seen a THX Dolby Digital widescreen version.

The sound is also good and clear, but the explosions don't quite seem to pack the meaty bang one expects from laserdisc on side one, although by the time we reach side two things are back to what's expected and the final showdown is a surround-sound treat. The film itself has a good score from Graeme Revell, and an engaging soundtrack from a number of grunge bands, and one stand-out track from the definitely non-grunge Jane Siberry, "It Can't Rain All The Time", even though it seems to do so in this film...

The disc could also have done with twice as many chapters, especially as the last one is almost 20-minutes long, as there are only 17 spread throughout the 98-minute length, and there are also no extras to the package.

Overall, while the film is an enjoyable piece of hokum but at times may look like it's suffered at the hands of the BBFC as some scenes in which you expect more gory events - Top Dollar's demise, for example - you can rest assured that it hasn't, as I compared these parts to those on the NTSC release, and it can be put down to some fairly average editing.

The package is let down by under-par picture and sound performance, and a lack of the widescreen treatment and any extras, such as an interview with Brandon Lee, which adorned not only the NTSC release, but also the fullscreen PAL video (!)

Film: 3/5
Picture: 3/5
Sound: 4/5

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.