“People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can’t rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right. ” The movie The Crow opens with this voiceover that explains the basic mythology of the film. The main character is Eric Draven who before his murder was the guitarist in a local rock band, Hangman’s Joke.
He and his fiancee, Shelly Webster, were due to be married on Halloween but were tragically murdered by a street gang the night before. In life Draven and Shelly looked after a young street kid, Sarah, who was like a younger sister to them. Later in the movie he becomes friends with a cop, Albrecht, who helps him on his quest. We find out most of the backstory from flashbacks that Draven has throughout the film. He also discovers he in linked to the crow that brought him back.
The crow provides him with various supernatural powers but it also his serves as his main weakness; if the crow is hurt he can be too. His main goal is to seek vengeance on the men who killed him and who raped and killed his girlfriend Shelly. His resurrection one year after his death is the main event that begins his journey. As he crawls out of his grave the crow leads him back to his old apartment. Once inside he relives the events of his and Shelly’s death and begins to paint his face to match a tragedy mask he finds in the apartment.
He can see through the crow’s eyes and the bird helps him to set out on his journey to track down the men who wronged him and kill them. The events of his journey are pretty simple as he seeks out and kills the members of the gang. He also blows up the pawn shop of the main who pays the gang member for the goods they steal from others, and eventually kills the leader of the street gang. He also finds the mother of his friend Sarah shacked up and strung out with one of the gang members he kills. He helps Sarah’s mother by giving her the wake up call she needed.
His main conflicts are locating and killing those who wronged him and coming to terms with his tragedy as well as making sure Sarah is safe. The turning point comes when a crime lord and his sister scheme to steal the crow’s power from Draven. He kidnaps Sarah in order to lure Draven into a fight. At this point it is clear the movie’s climax will be a final battle with Draven and this crime lord. He and Albrecht go to try and save Sarah when both the crow and Albrecht become injured. The final fight does not seem to be going in Draven’s favor and since the crow is hurt he no longer has his healing powers.
Then the crime boss reveals that he ordered the attack on Shelly and it is clear now that Draven will win. He kills his final villain and, after making sure his friends are going to survive, he returns to his grave. The movie ends with Draven having successfully killed all those responsible for his tragedy and having avenged his and Shelly’s death. He has also made sure that Sarah’s mom will look out for her so that she will no longer be roaming the streets. In his final moments he is reunited with Shelly as they return to the afterlife where he can finally rest in peace.
