The Crow: 4K UHD Review
Just in time for its’ 30th Anniversary, Alex Proyas’ The Crow arrives on 4K UHD, courtesy of Paramount. This was the late Brandon Lee’s final performance, due to a tragically fatal accident on-set. The story itself makes the tragedy even more haunting, as Lee’ plays Eric Draven, a musician who is murdered along with his fiancée by a ruthless gang on Devil’s Night (night before Halloween). He is then resurrected one year later and given supernatural power in-order-to take revenge. Lee was on the cusp of becoming a movie star like his father and it’s hard not to watch The Crow and think about the loss.
Set one year after the violent killings of Eric Draven and Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas), Eric crawls his way out of the grave, thanks to a crow that was pecking on his tombstone. The crow itself carries souls to the land of the dead, but if a person died by tragic circumstances, the crow can resurrect their restless spirit to set things right. For Eric, must work his way up the food chain by killing each and every gang member, which would lead him to Top Dollar (Michael Wincott).
While Eric really doesn’t have any friends, there are people that do care about him, including Sarah (Rochelle Davis), a young girl that he and Shelly used to take care of. There is also Sergeant Daryl Albrecht (Ernie Hudson), a good cop that pretty much realized there is not much he can do to stop Eric from completing his act of vengeance, and there is a whole lot of vengeance taking place in The Crow. At a time where comic book film adaptations mainly consisted of Superman and Batman films, it wasn’t common to take lesser-known properties and make feature films out of them. Just a few years earlier, New Line did it with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and that paid off big time. The Crow however, catered to an older demographic.
The Crow has a huge fanbase (myself included) and director Alex Proyas, cinematographer Dariusz Wolski and production designer Alex McDowell play a big role on why the film worked so well. Together, they helped bring us into the world of Eric Draven. I had high hopes for this 4K release, but I did not expect the disk to exceed my expectations. The new 2160p presentation with Dolby Vision/ HDR10 delivers an absolutely stunning picture. Anyone familiar with the film, will realize just how important the black levels alone are. For a neo-noir picture such as this, I am having a hard time remembering the film looking this great. For a film this dark, to pick up so much detail, especially in structures like the church and Eric’s apartment, is very impressive. As for the audio, we get a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. From the sounds of thunder and rain, the excessive gunfire and the killer 90’s rock soundtrack and score, there is not a single disappointing aspect to the audio presentation.
As for bonus content, while much of it was ported over from the Blu-ray, we do get a new Shadows & Pain bonus, along with an interview with Sideshow Collectibles Edward R. Pressman which is new to disk. This release is a must-own for any fan of The Crow. You can order your copy here.
Bonus Content:
- Shadows & Pain: Designing The Crow – NEW!
- Sideshow Collectibles: An Interview with Edward R. Pressman – NEW TO DISC!
- Audio Commentary with Director Alex Proyas
- Audio Commentary by Producer Jeff Most and Screenwriter John Shirley
- Behind the Scenes Featurette
- A Profile on James O’Barr
- Extended Scenes
- Deleted Footage Montage
- Trailer
By: Marc Ferman
