The Crow: City of Angels ** (1996, Vincent Perez, Mia Kirshner, Richard Brooks) – Classic Movie Review 3808

Director Tim Pope’s 1996 sequel is a largely unsuccessful attempt to cash in on the successful flight of the 1994 hit The Crow, without the star, Brandon Lee, who was killed in an on-set accident towards the end of shooting.

Written by David S Goyer, the screenplay features another revenge plot that is more or less the same as the first one, though the story is set eight years later in Los Angeles. Vincent Perez is mostly wasted and lost as Ashe Corven, who is killed along with his son Danny (Eric Acosta) when they witness a killing by a drug gang working for kingpin Judah Earl (Richard Brooks).

But again The Crow is around to bring Ashe back from the dead for revenge on Judah and his right-hand man Curve (Iggy Pop). Also around is tattoo artist Sarah (Mia Kirshner), who is led to Ashe by The Crow. Sarah is back from the first movie, where she was played by Rochelle Davis.

Based on the comic book series and comic strip by James O’Barr, this muddled, violent and extreme fantasy action thriller nonsense at least manages to look slick, with smart cinematography by Jean-Yves Escoffier, much like the first film (where the director of photography was Dariusz Wolski).

Also in the cast are Ian Dury, Thomas Jane, Vincent Castellanos, Thuy Trang, Tracey Ellis, Beverly Mitchell, Alan Gelfant, Holley Chant and Kerry Rossall.

The Director’s Cut features 11 new or extended scenes. In the UK, two scenes in which a butterfly knife is used had to be edited to get a BBFC 18 rating.

The Crow: Salvation (2000) follows it.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3808

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