IHAO on ... the Crow

I finally watched it!  I finally did!  Hurray, I watched a piece of 90s culture that's super important, and super changed how a bunch of television shows and movies looked visually and how characters were written!  It turned the all-American neon fighting machine Sting into ... the Crow ... Sting.  He's now the Joker-Sting, which is pretty funny, considering that arguably the Dark Knight's Joker is how he is because of the Crow.  But I did it!  I watched it!  And it's ok.

Yup, that's it.  Just ok.  Good and bad, history of Brandon Lee's death and all, this movie is fine.  And not even in that way where there is a whole bunch of good and a whole bunch of bad and they even out to create an ok film.  No, no, everything in this movie is just ... fine.  Ernie Hudson is probably the best actor in the movie, and he's just fine.  Tony Todd is also here and is just fine.  The little girl actress is actually pretty good for her age.  Michael Massee is an actor I loved in Flashforward, and was happy to see him here.  But uh ... ok ... let's talk about Brandon Lee.

Wait ... no, no, I didn't mean to ... oh jeez ... don't revenge kill me, please.

Brandon Lee isn't a good actor.  He's go a pretty good presence, but he comes across as a hokey community theatre guy.  Heck, he looks and reminds me of a guy I did theatre with before, though that guy was definitely better as he had some actual gravitas.  Brandon Lee is just kind of there.  Delivering lines that aren't cheesy enough to be bad or enjoyable.  And he doesn't chew the scenery in any kind of extra enjoyable way.  He's just kind of there.  He isn't the worst actor, no, that award goes to our lead villain, who was painful.

There is a whole lot of dated-ness to this film, but it is so stylized that instead of becoming this stamp of old, it became a look that was emulated and wanted.  Much like how John Hughes films, while technically very dated, have this pervasive style that became a genre of their own.  The Crow does similarly, and I think that is a good thing.  There are plenty of bad dated films, but this one isn't bad.  It is just ok.  It never really has any stakes because I never am worried that the protagonist won't succeed.  And as far as revenge flicks go, it does fine enough.  I wish more had been done here, but it is fine, and defined or at least amplified a style and culture.  So there's that.

Grade: C