Brilliant and touching

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Sarah (Mia Kirshner) as a child loved Eric Draven, the original Crow, the man who avenged his murderers in the city of Detroit. Hoping to start a new life, Sarah has moved to LA, where she works as a tattoo artist and lives in an abandoned warehouse, unknown to anyone. One night, she has a vision of a man, Ashe Corven (Vincent Perez) and his young son Danny being likewise killed. It seems the two Corvens happened to accidentally witness a drug dealer being terminated by other nefarious dealers under the direction of Judah (Richard Brooks). Shot and thrown into the ocean, it was a dreadful happening. Sarah, drawn to the shore, goes to the very spot of the murders, where she sees a crow flying. just before Ashe rises from the sea as a victim intent on revenge for his family. Ashe and Sarah from a bond. One by one, Ashe finds a way to destroy the horrendous gang that carried out Danny's and his murders; sometimes by fire. When Ashe is on the move, his final target will be Judah. But, this drug kingpin has a blind seer, who warns him of impending danger. Will Ashe be able to complete his much sought revenge? First, this film is a violent but stylish movie; those who are under 18 or who can't abide ruthless killing, should stay away. However, beneath the violence is the strangely appealing plot that made the first movie with Brandon Lee so intriguing. That is. there is a halfway to heaven limbo for victims of violent death, in which they can emerge as a crow's companion and take down the bad guys or gals of the world. Who doesn't love to see good avenge evil? Lee, of course, died in the making of the Crow and, in this film, Vincent Perez takes his place, with fine results. The rest of the cast, including Kirshner and Brooks, do interesting work as well. One of the film's biggest assets is its art direction and style, for the effects are beautifully realized. As stated, this movie is not for all, so beware. However, some will find it riveting, compelling fare.

The Crow: City of Angels (1996)* 1/2 (out of 4) A vicious drug dealer (Richard Brooks) has mechanic Ashe Corven (Vincent Perez) killed along with his wife and young son. A year later the crow leads the mechanic back from the dead for revenge. Like many bad sequels to good movies, this one here is basically just a remake without any imagination and in the end you're just watching a cheaper, less entertaining version of the 1994 film. THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS is pretty much dead from the word go as there's simply nothing here to get excited about. I think the only reason I didn't rate the movie lower is that while watching the thing you can't help but hope that something exciting will finally happen and you keep hanging in there hoping for it but in the end it never comes. The entire look of the film just seems like a weak copy of the first and there's no question that this contains a real lack of energy, excitement or simply any characters to root for. I say that because it's hard not to root for anyone who has had their family slaughtered, that's a given, but the problem here is that the film simply doesn't make us care for Ashe or his family. Even the villains here are all forgettable with the exception of Iggy Pop who goes all out with his funny, over-the-top performance. Perez is pretty bland in the lead role. It seems he was going for the same type of laid back approach that Brandon Lee did but it just doesn't work here. Bringing the Sarah character back from the previous film also doesn't work here. The action scenes are all rather boring and I'd say that the majority of them lack any real imagination. The lack of imagination is something that can be said about the majority of this film as this sequel just never gets off the ground.

Some time ago, Ashe Corven and his son Danny were killed when they stumbled across a pack of drug dealers murdering a fellow dealer.The dealers work for Los Angeles drug kingpin Judah. Local tattoo artist Sarah, who has great knowledge of the crow legend because of what happened with her late friend, has been having dreams about Ashe and Danny.One night when a crow leads her to the scene of the murders of Ashe and Danny, Ashe appears before her.The crow has resurrected Ashe, so Ashe can go after Judah and his right hand man Curve.With the guidance of the crow, Ashe starts killing off Judah's men one by one, on his way to Judah.Yes, many think that this film is sacrilege and trounces on Lees grave, but in my opinion, it's a great sequel, very dark, and seems very visceral at times.I love the first movie, it has that tone to it and obviously what happened to Lee makes the film more poignant and essential. It was inevitable that there was going to be a sequel as the film shouts our franchise, whether you like it or not.Perez is obviously no Lee, but he wasn't supposed to be, he is his own 'Crow' ans this film has more of a paternal feel to it, rather than the dark romanticism of the first.And this is where the film usurps the first, the villains in this are more entertaining, even if they are over the top and more theatrical. Judah though, isn't a patch on Top Dollar, but has some good scenes and hilarious dialogue.So all in all it's a sequel, but a heavily underrated one, thanks to obsessed fans of the first who dismissed this.The set pieces are great, the soundtrack as dark as the first, and a whole 'dusk' vibe throughout the whole movie.It's obviously directed by a music video director, as the editing is sharp and some of the cinematography is stark.It's okay to say that this movie is good, you won't offend anyone, or lose the mysticism of the original.

I admit that Salvation was the first version I watched before looking for the original from 1994, but I'm glad I did or I wouldn't have given it a chance after this great disappointment.The actor choice and acting was poor at best and it was slow moving.The directing was everywhere and though the soundtrack was still good, that's about the only good thing about this film.Vincent Perez is the worst version of The crow yet! I couldn't help but view him as a spazzed out Carrot-Top, No, even that comedian would have done the role better! They murdered the character that was supposed to be Sarah, and though I'm sure it's supposed to be because she grew up and matured, they chose the wrong direction for a character that was so lovable.Not to troll, I love the feelings any father has for his child, but the feeling just wasn't the same. It felt more like "Oh my god, was he more with his son then a dad? Is he gay?" Just a personal opinion, Salvation and the Original were way better then this piece of scrap and I'm glad I didn't waste the money to see it in theaters.