Crow
The instances where the star of a movie or TV show being killed on set are rare but notable (Vic Morrow, Jon-Erik Hexum, and Roy Kinnear come to mind), but the most notorious (and thus, legendary) event is no doubt the accidental death of Brandon Lee in 1993 (nearly twenty years ago) on the set of this movie as it was filming in Wilmington, North Carolina. The effects were deep and long lasting: while the prop and gun people on set that day were never properly identified and rightfully prosecuted, Lee’s mother collected $3 million from a negligence lawsuit, actor Michael Massee (who fired the gun that killed Lee) was so devastated that he left acting for a year, and young actress Rochelle Davis (who played the little girl Sarah) was so traumatized that she never acted again. In addition, Paramount Pictures, which produced and financed the film, wrote it off as incomplete due to the death of the lead actor, and only later, after the footage was picked up by Miramax, was director Alex Proyas convinced to go back and finish the film mostly as a tribute to his fallen star, with the release one year after Lee’s passing strangely echoing his character in the film. Nonetheless, Proyas succeeded in creating a haunting, long lasting masterpiece, one that has ensured Brandon Lee cult immortality and actually made him an Icon in both goth and cyberpunk circles, with the finished film being so amazingly prescient that it gives the viewer the feeling that it actually stars Lee’s SPIRIT rather than Lee himself. He plays Eric Draven, a small time rock singer who is murdered on Devil’s Night (the night before Halloween) by a gang of crazed hoodlums who were originally sent to clear he and his girlfriend out of their tenement before deciding to kill him quickly and subject his girlfriend to an even worse fate, brutally raping her and leaving her to die a slow, agonizing demise. One year later, spurred on by the supernatural title bird, he comes back from the grave to seek revenge on the four rapists and ultimately runs afoul of the crime boss who controls the city and had initially ordered the clearing of the apartment building. While the incomplete filming caused major plot points to be left out (like the explanation of Draven’s powers and the setting up of a franchise with the character as a dark superhero), Lee’s acting when he is actually front and center is intense and impressive, as well as highly emotional during scenes with the little girl and with Ernie Hudson’s good cop when talking about his fate. Other scenes, which utilize a double for Lee with his face composited on via CGI, rely on Proyas’ keen eye for mood and atmosphere, perfectly setting the intention of the character while still retaining his aura and mystique. The film is also notable when it comes to its impressive roster of villains, most notably veteran bad guy Michael Wincott bringing a larger than life veneer to his crime boss Top Dollar, along with Bai Ling as his twisted half sister, Tony (Candyman) Todd as his bodyguard, and the quartet of rapists led by David Patrick Kelly (almost stealing the movie when he loses his mind during his death scene), Massee as Funboy, Lawrence Mason as the knife throwing Tin Tin, and Angel David as the pathetic yet weirdly sympathetic Skank, not to mention Jon Polito pouring on an extra layer of sleaze as the pawn shop owner Gideon. The film also features an incredible soundtrack of some of the best hard rock / alternative artists out there (another reason for its lingering popularity) which includes Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against The Machine, Rollins Band, and of course The Cure (whose music originally inspired James O’Barr to write the graphic novel this is based on after the real life death of his fiancée). But in the end it’s really all about Brandon Lee, a guy who was so intent to break out of his famous father’s shadow that he was willing to give this part his all, and in the end, he did, giving his life in the process at the age of 28 but establishing a cinematic legend that makes this film distinctly unique from all others and that along with the pure emotion that his truncated performance inspires ensures that it will continue to live on as one of the greatest, most moving comic book movies ever made…
10/10