The Crow: City of Angels (1996)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Let's face it, the only reason The Crow (1994) was ever a marginal hit at the box office is because of the death cult surrounding Brandon Lee's untimely death. The film itself was okay but certainly not deserving of a sequel. Yet in 1996, The Crow: City of Angels limped into theaters and was quietly beaten in the back of many a late show viewing like a card shark owing money.Vincent Perez thanklessly takes over the Crow moniker, this time as formerly dispatched father Ashe Corven. The Crow avenges his own murder and that of his son against a local city kingpin (Richard Brooks) and his partner Curve (Iggy Pop who makes a second appearance on this list). Returning character (but not returning actress) Sarah (Mia Kirshner) is the only link between the two movies and fills us in on the legend of the Crow and other unnecessary exposition.Riding the coattails of the previous film, the sequel is uncharacteristically smaller, darker and joyless. It's also far to talky, providing long moments of explanations and pseudo-poetic insights instead of being the vigilante Gothic action-thriller it should have been. Vincent Perez is simply un-watchable as the new Crow and the brooding visuals are so painfully cheap. At best the film plays like a so-so Evanescence music video. Truth be told audience members would be better served if simply replaced the film with a blank screen for an hour and a half.

Plays most of the same notes as the original, but not half as well. Vincent Perez - playing an entirely different character - still seems to be doing his best Brandon Lee impression, which sadly isn't very good. Only the hauntingly beautiful Mia Kirshner manages to transcend her paint by numbers role. In truth, I'd rather have seen her as The Crow.'City of Angels' was reportedly heavily edited by Miramax (no surprise there if you know anything about their butchery practices) and has subsequently been disowned by director Tim Pope and screenwriter David Goyer. At 86 minutes with credits, it definitely feels chopped up. A so-called "Second Coming" edit of the film apparently exists, and perhaps it's better as some claim, but there's an inherent artistic failure here that no amount of "more" can fix.

Many years after the first film, the spirit of the Crow resurrects another man (Vincent Perez) seeking revenge for the murder of his son.Now, apparently there is an extremely long cut that exists out there, approved by the director. The version we see today is heavily cut and put together by the studio, against the wishes or the writer and director. But, regardless of that, it is still a good movie.This film really captured the dark nihilism of the 1990s in a way that the first one did not. The music, the barren image of Los Angeles... this is very much the philosophical sentiment of the time. Movies and music in the 1990s did not have to leave the audience happy. Sometimes they left us empty, or feeling alone, and this film has much of that... even the heroes are lost souls.Also, excellent choice in casting Mia Kirshner. Whether it was from "Exotica" or from a screen test, whatever got her in this film was a good thing. She shines, even more than the Crow himself.

The Crow: City of Angels (1996): Dir: Tim Pope / Cast: Vincent Perez, Mia Kershner, Iggy Pop, Thomas Jane, Vincent Castellanos: Thankless chunk of sewage that delivers nothing but visual effects. We never learn anything of this city of angels but it's probably just as well. Vincent Perez steps in replacing Brandon Lee who died while filmmaking the original. In that film a young man is killed by a gang and the revenge he enacts when a crow becomes his vision. In this sequel the same crap happens again and he kills the guilty one by one. Director Tim Pope allows everything to get away on him. Instead of a man and wife, it is a father and son who witness a murder and are erased for it. He kills them one by one and we don't give a rat's ass. Perez is not doing anyone any favors by appearing in this mess and Mia Kershner delights in sharing the overacting credit. Also wasting our time are singing sensation Iggy Pop, looking less than sensational here, and Thomas Jane who looks even less sensational. This junk exist only because the first Halloween act of lunacy made money. But let it be known that the first film is basically Death Wish in costume. For better use of your time, listen to any number of Iggy Pop songs. This pathetic sequel should be placed in a trash bag and burned along with the other garbage that emerged from Hollywood this year. Score: 1 / 10