brandon | brandon and the crow | the crow reviews

Brandon

"It was a time in Brandon's life when everything was coming together," she said. "He could have done so much."

Brandon's mother at his graveside
Star Tribune, 1995

There was a contained, focused power to Brandon. If he hugged you, you knew you were hugged. If he smiled at you, you knew you'd been smiled at.

Jan McCormack, Brandon's manager
1993

Brandon and The Crow

[Alex Proyas] hastens to remind that what was accomplished on The Crow after Brandon Lee's death has been an exaggeration. "That has actually been hyped out of all proportion," he insists. "In reality, Brandon had completed most of the film; with one component remaining to be done. The FX company on the movie hyped this in order to make themselves seem like they were performing miracles. It angered me, because they were really taking away from Brandon's work. There's no gimmickry there; that's Brandon's performance in that movie."

Alex Proyas, The Crow director
"Inside Dark Empire", Starlog #243, October 1997

Lee is sensational on all counts in a final performance that brims over with athleticism and ardor. ...

Above all is Lee, who finds the core of this tormented phantom. Despite the visionary brilliance and hip brutality, The Crow - whose closing dedication reads, "For Brandon and Eliza" - is saying that love never dies. We've heard that before. It's Lee, with probing intelligence and passionate heart, who moves us to believe it.

"The Crow" review
Rolling Stone

He had a boyish enthusiasm, but he was very focused. He would always go the extra mile. We could be at the end of a long day, with a lot of rain machines going, and everyone would be happy with the shot. He could have gone (home) and chilled out, but Brandon would cock his head and call out to Alex, 'What if we did it this way?'

Robert Zuckerman, The Crow's still photographer
"How the Crow flew", Entertainment Weekly, 1994

When he filmed the sequence coming out of the grave, (it) was 5 degrees. They had to put alcohol in the rain machines to keep the liquid from freezing, and all Brandon had on were his pants. But he did the scene over and over until he got it exactly as he wanted it. He was a hell of a trouper.

James O'Barr, creator of The Crow comic book
"How the Crow flew", Entertainment Weekly, 1994

... only this very stylish, very hip horror movie taps into Lee's unique charisma, native intelligence, and real talent

Lee's physical acting is terrific: He moves with pantherlike grace as he stalks the unnamed city's rooftops ...

on Brandon's role in The Crow
Entertainment Weekly, 1994

If he had to die so soon, this movie is the best and most appropriate sendoff Lee could have hoped for.

on Brandon's performance in The Crow
Washington Post, 1994

Lee was making The Crow in Wilmington, North Carolina, at Carolco Studios on Stage Number 4. The date was March 30, 1993. The shooting schedule for that evening consisted of nine shots and filming began close to 8:00 p.m. Lee was not needed until later, so he came onto the set close to midnight. Lee's character, killed by hoodlums at the beginning of the film, returns from the dead seeking vengeance on his killers. The filming that night, ironically, was to be his character's death scene. Lee was to come into his attic apartment with a bag of groceries and see four thugs violating his sweetheart. Before he could stop them, one of the punks was supposed to shoot him at close range. Unknown either to Lee, the "killer," the director, or the prop person, the real gun used - a silver .44 magnum - had a bullet tip lodged sideways in the barrel, left from several weeks before. The barrel was not checked when it was loaded with a blank shell, which then discharged the object. It entered just below Lee's navel, lodging in his spine. His vital organs were severely damaged, and he lost a lot of blood. Lee died later that day while in the intensive-care unit.

Brandon's death
Magill's Survey of Cinema

The Crow reviews

It is a stunning work of visual style - the best version of a comic book universe I've seen - and Brandon Lee clearly demonstrates in it that he might have become an action star, had he lived.

At least what Brandon Lee accomplished - in a film that looks to have been hard, dedicated labor - has been preserved.

Roger Ebert

... what makes The Crow work as an interesting, if flawed, film is Lee himself. The actor poured all his energies into it. He shed fifteen pounds for the role, modeled his character's look after rock singer Chris Robinson, and invested Eric with a gaunt, daunting cinematic aura. An avenging angel, clad in black with mime makeup, heightened by teardrops and black lips, Lee exuded sweetness, lithe grace, and mesmerizing intensity. Like other teen idols who die young such as James Dean and River Phoenix - Lee will be missed as much for his presence as well as his future promise.

Terry Theodore
Magill's Survey of Cinema, 1995

But Crow, in all its arty trashiness and sepulchral reverence, gives Lee's tragedy an oddly comforting epilogue. If he had to die so soon, this movie is the best and most appropriate sendoff Lee could have hoped for.

Desson Howe
Washington Post, May 13, 1994