Sadly, nothing else he did sounds anywhere near as good as the Crow.

Yeah, they were all pedestrian action flicks. Crow was going to be his break out role.

I just finished reading the book for Black Hawk Down, and it was very well done. The movie changed a few things here and there, mostly to present the battle in the most effective way possible.

Prime example - Josh Hartnett's character Sgt. Eversmann really existed, but his chalk was transported out of the battle by the first convoy to leave the city. They made the decision to have his chalk be the one to make it on foot to the first crash site in order to preserve a coherent narrative through line.

Some other tidbits and facts - most people (partially because of the movie) think that the Somalis only took out two helicopters. They actually took out five, only two of them crashed. The rest were able to limp back to base under their own power, but were still effectively taken out of the fight.

While we refer to it as the Battle of Mogadishu, or the Battle of the Black Sea, the Somalis refer to it as "The Day of the Rangers."

Even though the images of Ranger corpses being dragged through the streets caused enough of a stir back home to cause us to pull out of Somalia, and the mission went about as far south as you can go, the operation is still considered a military success - a force of 100 men wound up pinned down and surrounded by possibly as many as tens of thousands of local militia and were able to hold off their enemy long enough to be pulled out. They did far greater damage to the Somalis than they took themselves - the conservative figures on the Somali side are over 1,000 dead and wounded. But most importantly, the Rangers succeeded in their objective of capturing the local warlord figures they had set out to capture.

Very interesting book to go with a very interesting movie, about an intense and contentious battle.

Very interesting book to go with a very interesting movie, about an intense and contentious battle.

The movie is also becomes quite a session of "Hey, it's that guy!" Of course, it later turns into "Hey, which guy is that?"

Rapid Fire was decent, Showdown in Little Tokyo had its moments, and Laser Mission was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Legacy Of Rage helps define the term pedestrian, and I suppose Kung Fu: The Movie was okay -- if you don't hate the Kung Fu franchise.

The movie is also becomes quite a session of "Hey, it's that guy!" Of course, it later turns into "Hey, which guy is that?"

Yep. Plus there's two character actors in that movie that I awlays tend to conflate anyway, and putting them in the same movie where they both wear desert fatigues doesn't help.

Also, about half the American soldiers in the movie are played by Brits doing American accents. Not to mention Jason Issacs doing a Texan accent.

Rapid Fire was decent

I've been meaning to catch this one, as I heard it was passable.

The movie is also becomes quite a session of "Hey, it's that guy!"

No kidding. At one point, I had it chronicled like, Legolas and Obi-wan Kenobi are on point, with that dude from Trainspotting, Hot Danny Taylor, and the kid from Lassie over there, Daniel Deronda carrying the medical supplies, and Lucius Malfoy in charge.

That's not even getting to the part where one of the Deltas was The Hulk, and all the other guys who each had been in like 100 military movies.

You know, I really wish The Crow were better. If it just had a slightly stronger script, I could upgrade my "really like" to "love." There's just something about it, the bizarre way it makes something so banal so watchable. And Ernie Hudson! Ah, Ernie Hudson. And Tony Todd.

Anyone know about the Skull Cowboy? It looks like a character that would have helped define the mythology a bit better, though after skimming a description of his scenes, I think the movie works better leaving it vague.

Heh. I looked on IMDb, and that movie is the only work the girl who played Sarah ever did.

Gah, you've just made me miss The Crow TV series terribly (I wonder if it's on DVD...) and the chick that played Sarah in that. Hopefully she'll get a good role in the next X-movie.

Gah, you've just made me miss The Crow TV series terribly (I wonder if it's on DVD...) and the chick that played Sarah in that.

So that was good? (Oh, the chick that played Sarah was Kitty. Aaah. Cool.)

I think I might quit the movies if, on my first job, the lead actor managed to get killed dead. Or my parents might make me quit the movies.

I think, as a translation of what I've read of the comics, The Crow is pretty emotionally faithful -- overwrought, baroque, somewhat extreme in its choices. I could wish it were more subtle, and that, e.g., the villains were less outré and thereby more scary. I also think Eric was a much better sass than he was a preacher.

Visually, I think the focus on the industrial style dates it a bit, but I imagine it's sort of an ur-text for many latter-day gothy types.