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When Draven and his fiancée are slain by a gang of hired thugs, the young musician returns as a ghostly avenger, assisted by a mystical bird and intent upon hunting down his murderers and returning the favor. And there you have it; that’s pretty much the entire story. The Crow is on the surface a revenge flick, and once Draven begins to methodically eradicate Tin-Tin, Funboy, Skank and the rest of their crew, his inevitable showdown with Top Dollar, the crime lord responsible for Draven’s death is only a matter of time. Detractors will point out that there’s a pretty minimal level of plot development present here, and that’s not an unfair thing to say. But in a world where most of the antagonists seem to be named after obscure brands of dog food and naughty lad magazines, this is probably to be expected. Plus, the streamlined structure allows The Crow to play to its other strengths, which are considerable.

One of the earliest films to have been based on what are now called "graphic novels," The Crow is translated to the screen by director Alex Proyas, whose previous credits were primarily music videos. But not only does this lend itself well to the story’s dark, anarchic visual style, but James O’Barr himself drew inspiration from the music he listened to while creating the comic, which included acts like The Cure, Bauhaus, Iggy Pop and Joy Division.

Music is a huge part of The Crow’s style and the soundtrack’s dour mix of hard rock, Gothic and industrial tunes propels the story as much as anything that happens on screen. If watching Draven apply his evil clown make-up to the moody strains of The Cure’s “Burn” doesn’t give you a charge, then you just might be dead yourself. Likewise, the visual design of The Crow at times makes it feel like an extended music video; creative use of miniatures and early digital effects was partially out of necessity but it also served to give the film a distinctive appearance.

The iconic scenes of a lone crow soaring over the rust colored cityscape of Detroit (yes, it’s Detroit) reinforce the universal nature of Loss, and remind us that the pain Draven is experiencing could happen to any one of us (laugh at me if you want, but that actually was the intent). The skyline below is comprised of obvious miniatures but they’re so lovingly detailed and meticulously crafted that the effect is not distracting – it’s actually seamless in a way, and quite breathtaking. And having seen more than a few Godzilla movies in my time, ‘breathtaking’ is not normally a word I associate with miniatures.

But the most important aspect of The Crow, and the one that makes the story – thin as it is – so effective is the persistent idea that love and loyalty can overcome any obstacle and motivate any of us to achieve things that we never felt were possible. These sentiments are as old as humanity itself but they aren’t the sort of thing you often find in a revenge tale, let alone one with this level of violence. The characters, both good and evil, are intertwined in a meaningful way that isn’t apparent at first, but makes everything that happens to them seem preordained once the end credits roll.

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