The Crow: Salvation

I love "The Crow," and there's not much in my mind that could be done in a sequel to top it. "Salvation," unlike "City of Angels," doesn't try to top the first one, or rip it off... The characters are solid, the performances are great, and the action is non-stop. But what singles this movie out is the story. It's a good story, not just another "Crow" movie. The direction of the film reminds me of the first, very dark, yet crisp (not gritty like the 2nd), and the trick camera angles mixed with the impressive special effects keep the supernatural elements alive as the very human story rolls along.

I work at a video store, and I see all kinds of movies that bypass theatres and come direct to video, and usually there's something about them that tells you why, even the good ones. This had the look and feel of something that, if released at the appropriate time, would have done well in the theatres. It wouldn't have been a smash hit, and it certainty wouldn't bring in as many people as the original did, but it deserves much better than this.

If you're fans of the franchise, I highly recommend that you see this. If you like the first one, but that's it, then expand your horizons a little and try to see this for what it is, and not what you thought it would be. It's a sequel to a GREAT movie, and it ends up being a pretty good movie on it's own...

The Crow: Salvation, like the other sequel, will never be able to duplicate what Brandon Lee created. He put a raw, uninhibited energy into it that made the story seem more real. Although Eric Mabius is himself a fabulous actor, his performance in this film is somewhat lukewarm, and lacks the necessary realism to make a film like this work. However, all in all, not a bad deal, and it's one that I would watch again (although I wouldn't watch it 20,000 times like I have with the original Crow so far!)

The Crow was a great film. COA was a good film. Salvation lies somewhere in between them.

The acting, though crapped on by the majority, was pretty good. Eric Mabius played a good crow, who seemed to enjoy his powers a bit and had some witty superhero-esque lines. Kirsten Dunst was nowhere near as bad as others have said she was. Actually she was damn good. Fred Ward was a GREAT bad guy, rivaling Michael Wincott from the first film. The supporting cast all filled their roles well.

Some people complain about the dialouge being terrble. Not really. Some of it was good, some of it was simply plain. One scene that stood out as absolutely terrible is the scene where Corvus persuades Erin Randell to keep her sister's necklace. I can think of ten different ways that scene could have been written better with dialogue that was not CHEESY.

There is plenty of good stuff in this film. We have a GREAT execution scene in the beginning, plenty of action,a hero you could feel sorry for, some good drama, and, yes, for all you perverts, this does have the T&A that is typical of a crow film.

If you're a fan of the franchise and not looking for anything new to be added, then you'll like this. If you didn't like the first one or are expecting something completely originally, then you should skip. I'd rank this film a 9

I admit, the first time I saw this movie I fell head over heels for it. I still love it, but it's direction was not as good as it could have been. Bharat Nalluri could have easily raised the budget a little bit and the film would have a) gained more publicity and b)obtained a higher rank in quality. Except for Eric Mabius and Kristen Dunst, everyone acting in the movie was horrible! All the cops to name a few. The girl in the car and her friend seemed as if they had been pulled out of school and asked to act right on the street. Kristen Dunst and Eric Mabius however, were excellent. Though Kristen can't cry she can still seem really upset. Mabius could have not accentuated the case number with his facial expressions so much but the movie as a whole, 7 outta 10.

"The Crow: Salvation," the fourth installment in the popular series of murdered men brought back from the dead to avenge their deaths, is certainly a step in the right direction after the travesty of previous entries. The first Crow, which is best known for being the film in which Brandon Lee was killed (duh), is a cult classic directed by Alex "Dark City" Proyas, and even today, it is regarded as probably the greatest of the gothic/action/modern noir films. It's sequel, "The Crow: City of Angels," starred Vincent Perez, and while it featured some nice ideas and beautiful images, it was nothing more but a poor remake of the first film lacking all the heart of the original. "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" came next, and it was two episodes of the TV show of the same name re-edited into a motion picture and released as a sequel to the first film. Instead of being a remake in disguise as a sequel like "City of Angels," "Stairway" goes ahead and just literally remakes the first film with the same characters, basically the same plotline, and none of the magic (though Mark Ducascos as the title character certainly demonstrates a type of charisma in his martial arts).

Now comes "The Crow: Salvation." Eric Mabius stars as Alex Corvez, who is wrongly executed for the murder of his girlfriend and returns from the dead to take out the real killers, with the help of his dead girlfriend's sister and a lawyer friend. As a sequel, it thankfully works because it has a premise completely different from the first film (something the other sequels failed to pull off) and it stands on its own, introducing its own magic and its own intruiging plot elements. It certainly is a good film and a good sequel, and while some points in the movie seem contrived, what film nowadays doesn't have at least a few obvious plot points?

The bad: Much of the film is underdeveloped, especially many characters. While the plotline is good, it seems rushed much of the time, and the viewer has to draw their own conclusions about many things. Some of the dialogue is also atrocious.

The good: Well well, there's much more of that. Eric Mabius as the central character shines throughtout. For the first time, we have a character in one of these movies *not* ripping off Brandon Lee, but instead, bringing his own qualities and characterizations to the character. The results are an effective performance that makes us forget about Lee altogether...at least until the film comes to a close. The plot, something of a murder mystery, would have made a good film even if it hadn't been a Crow film, and the images and notions presented only add to the appeal, especially with the character of the Crow itself, which at the beginning, acts as if this is just a routine thing to bring someone back to the dead, and that he's done it before. Later, however, it genuinely gets intruigued by Corvis' vendetta and begins aiding him more.

All in all, this is certainly much more acceptable that previous entries, and it succeeds where the others failed: Introducing new elements into a Crow franchise that, so far, has been nothing more but rip offs of the first film.

*** out of ****