Highly Overrated But Still Good

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Blistering performances.

to take on a role that became so identified with an actor. Particularly when the actor died while performing the character. Brandon Lee was just entering his prime when he tragically lost his life while filming the motion picture "The Crow". After he died the film took on an almost mythical aura to it. For anyone who has seen the sequel movies you know how the actors playing the title role has fallen flat. Yet in this television series the star managed to avoid the trap of simply doing an imitation of the late star. Mark Dacascos took the role of Eric Draven and made it his own.While there is a vast difference between this series and the parent movie, the producers should be applauded for not trying to do a simple carbon copy. They knew they could not get away with the more graphic and disturbing elements of the source material and instead tried to capture the overall feel of "The Crow". The series spends more time on the emotional turmoil that Draven deals with being dead while existing in the world of the living, and having to do what he can to get back to the one thing he came back for.For those who claim that Dacascos is just a pale imitation of Lee and that the series does not go as far as the first movie did into the Gothic I have to say take off the blinders and look at this for what it is. It doesn't try to be Brandon Lee's "The Crow", it just tries to be a syndicated television series based on the same source material.

"Crow: Stairway to Heaven" was one of the best television shows I have seen on television. It is unfortunate that it was cancelled. Mark Dacascos is a young and refreshing actor that proves he is not just an action star who survives by starring in no story action films.Dacascos branches outside of what he is used to in order to play a reincarnated soul of dead man brought back by a crow in order to set things right after his girlfriend is killed. The ongoing battle of good vs. evil continues as Eric Draven is brought back to life to set things right. Dacascos is great in the television version of the film that would turn out to be Brandon Lee's last. I couldn't wait for each week to come because it was a unique series in which the writers came up with great new stuff to write about for each episode. I enjoyed how the series went back and forth between the current world and the way it was when Eric Draven and his girlfriend Shelly lived in happier times.Everything about this show from, storylines, music, and setting scream HIT!!!!! From its star Mark Dacascos to the supporting cast which includes the police detective whom he helps out by catching criminals; this series deserves to be seen during the week when everyone has the chance to see how great it is.

The show takes the storyline of the first movie but has Eric remain "alive" in the interests of putting other wrongs right and helping those who cannot help themselves. Cheesy at times but Mark Dacascos' superior physical ability and charisma save the show. I suspect it would have been easy to have focused a great deal on the action part of Eric's character but Dacascos does a great job of giving Eric Draven emotional depth. The three regulars (Gomes, Stuart and Dacascos) have good chemistry and play well off each other. Eric's brief scenes with Shelley stay true to the idea of theirs being a great love, giving the show a good balance of action and romance. It's unfortunate that the show was ended so abruptly; a made-for-tv movie or straight to video release that resolved the issues brought up in the cliffhanger finale to the first season would be appreciated by many fans of the shortlived series.

Just when you think that the sequels would be horrible enough... absolutely horrible! This must be even more horrible than Renegade, Tarzan and all the others. A masterpiece turned into a lousy Turtles-like series, with no atmosphere, with a terrible storyline and with ugly makeup.I haven't got enough words to describe how I hate this series. Even the music makes me vomit. I just hope that Finland's tv stations wouldn't have transmitted it. It's going on right now.