The Crow: Salvation (2000)

Hollyfeld, here.

The underlying concept of The Crow is one of the perfect wet dream action scenarios - a supernatural revenge story in which a character is wronged so badly that their soul cannot rest after death, so that character returns as an invincible specter to murder their enemies. Originally written by a comic book artist who lost a loved one of his own, this is a concept that anyone who has lost someone to senseless violence (more and more people by the day, it seems) can relate to, since they have no doubt envisioned somewhat similar fantasies themselves.

So why, exactly, is the concept of The Crow so hard to get right on film? I think it's because screenwriters find such a simple concept daunting. Looking at the original film, one cannot deny that the plot was simple, with Eric Draven (Brandon Lee in his last, and by far his best, performance) coming back from the dead to exact revenge on his true love's rapists and murderers. But apart from the formula, the first Crow also benefited from stylish direction and exceptional actors who were given three-dimensional characters to portray. The sequel, The Crow: City of Angels, proves that the more important of those two strengths was clearly the characters, because although Tim Pope's film followed the premise of the first film to a tee, and filled the film with weird and interesting cinematography, the characters themselves were given absolutely nothing to do, and worse yet, nothing to work with. Whereas Brandon Lee's character in the first film had many facets to his personality - he was a loving boyfriend, talented artist, a father figure, and a man who died young, knowing that he didn't appreciate enough of his life - the second Crow, played by the admittedly talented Vincent Perez, was simply a car mechanic who lost his son. The filmmakers attempted to tack on a love story with the character played by Mia Kirshner (another exceptional actor in her own right), but aside from that there was no other point of interest. The film was a bust, is near the top of my personal list for the worst films of the last ten years, but does feature the best performance to date by Iggy Pop. I'm not sure whether that last bit was a compliment or not - but he was pretty good.

Each new film version of The Crow is met with mixed feelings - some feel that to keep the story going after the tragic death of Brandon Lee is a mistake, others feel the concept isn't strong enough to sustain another film, while still others hold out hope that the series will fall into the hands of people talented enough to realize its potential. The recent film, The Crow: Salvation, does not mark the coming of said creators, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

Wisely diversifying the traditional Crow formula a bit, the story is a bit of a murder mystery, with Eric Mabius playing Alex Corvis, a man unjustly executed for the rape and murder of his girlfriend. Similar to The Fugitive, the only information our hero knows about the true murderer is a mere physical description… a scarred arm. When Alex returns from the dead (very quickly, compared to the first two films), he and his supernatural crow go out on a search to find the man with the scarred arm, and uncover a police conspiracy in the process.

It occurs to me now that, apart from the conspiracy to frame Mabius' character for the murder, we never really find out exactly what the police were doing wrong in the first place, except that it apparently has something to do with internet pornography. Regardless, this Crow has a lot more going for it than the first sequel - specifically villains with real motivations (Fred Ward is particularly Bad Ass as the Big Bad), and genuine subplots, the biggest of which being the hero's relationship with his girlfriend's sister, played by Kirsten Dunst. Dunst never approved of her sister's relationship with Alex, so in death he attempts to prove himself to her. Although her character is not particularly well written, it is a welcome change of pace from the one-dimensional characters of The Crow: City of Angels.

Mabius is an interesting choice for The Crow, and it must be said he looks great in the make up. Although largely good in his role, he seems to be intimidated by Brandon Lee's performance in the original, mimicking it a little too closely in some scenes. Brandon Lee's Crow was a loving and strong character whose strength and love led him to violence, but he also recognized the little bit of madness that comes from being placed in the unusual position of reincarnation. Mabius seems to attempt the same type of conflicted performance as Lee, but fails to make the transition from good-hearted hero to vengeance-crazed killer seem realistic, taking the audience out of the action a little bit more than he should have.

The direction, it must be said, is also far superior to The Crow: City of Angels, although it certainly pales in comparison to Alex Proyas's work in the first film. Strong on capturing the different moods of the films' locales, director Bharat Nalluri nonetheless falls into clichéd territory far too often, with music video action sequences that seem to serve no other purpose than to be music video action sequences (although, to be fair, the soundtrack is quite good and these sequence are far superior to most others in the genre), and constant images of a shadowy Mabius walking in slow-motion down an alley. Nalluri's teeters between average, and just above and below average, resulting in an effective film that perhaps could have been a little better, but certainly could have been a lot worse.

Although originally slated for theatrical release, The Crow: Salvation ended up going straight-to-video, and I find this to be a fairly wise decision. Although an entertaining action film and worthy of being compared to the original, the big screen would not have been kind to this sequel's mediocrities, and the critics would probably have ripped it to shreds. On video though, where expectations are not so high, the entertaining The Crow: Salvation should be capable of finding its audience without inspiring any ire from potential detractors. At last The Crow film series is headed in a worthy direction - now let us hope it is not dead, hmm?