THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 4.0 Alternative Scale: ** out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 8/30/96 (wide) Running Length: 1:25 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, profanity, nudity, sex) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Vincent Perez, Mia Kirshner, Richard Brooks, Iggy Pop, Vincent Castellanos, Ian Dury, Tracey Ellis, Thomas Jane, Thuy Trang Director: Tim Pope Producers: Jeff Most, Edward R. Pressman Screenplay: David S. Goyer based on the comic book created by James O'Barr Cinematography: Jean-Yves Escoffier Music: Graeme Revell U.S. Distributor: Dimension/Miramax Films
One has to wonder why the film makers bothered to make a sequel to 1994's THE CROW. Although it made money, that movie, which brought the world of James O'Barr's comic book to life, was not a huge box office success, and a fair number of its viewers were probably lured into theaters by macabre curiosity. It is, after all, the film Brandon Lee had been working on at the time of his tragic death. As a result, the release of THE CROW was swathed in the kind of lurid sensationalism that inevitably fattens up a gross. There is no such behind-the-scenes story to increase audiences for the second installment, and the result is likely to be a short theatrical life.
Actually, THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS is little more than a subpar remake of the first outing, with a less-charismatic actor in the lead role (European hunk Vincent Perez takes over for Lee). The story goes something like this: an evil drug lord (Richard Brooks) orders Ashe Corven (Perez) and his young son killed after they are discovered in the wrong place at the wrong time. Aided by an animatronic crow, Ashe comes back to life to gain his revenge on his killers. His path crosses that of Sarah (Mia Kirshner), a refugee from the first film, and she becomes a pawn in the drug lord's schemes to destroy Ashe, whose only source of vulnerability is the black bird that flies above him and provides his powers.
Everyone in the cast, from Perez down, plays their role as if they are stoned. Despite looking like an outcast from the band KISS, Perez never musters much energy. Mia Kirshner, last seen stripping in EXOTICA, gives a flat, uninteresting performance, and Richard Brooks' sadistic Judah is more likely to inspire apathy than hatred. Villains need to be charismatic; Brooks is just plain dull. Iggy Pop, who goes over-the-top as Judah's sidekick, is much more entertaining.
The start-to-finish violence and throbbing rock soundtrack are evidence that the film makers recognized the story's inadequacies and attempted to compensate on a purely visceral level. Like the first CROW, this is a new wave DEATH WISH, but that film at least had the distinction of being original in approach, if not content. This one is a rehash, and director Tim Pope doesn't display nearly the same skill that Alex Proyas brought to the earlier feature.
THE CROW takes place in Detroit; CITY OF ANGELS transpires in a stylized, gothic Los Angeles that looks almost identical to the one John Carpenter recently captured in ESCAPE FROM L.A. This is a nightmarish view of the city's future -- a cheerless place more fit for inhabitation by the dead than the living. Speaking about L.A., Sarah says, "They call this the City of Angels, but all I see are victims." Really, though, when it comes to THE CROW 2, the victims aren't the poor souls suffering on-screen -- they're the men and women who paid money to gain admittance to the theater. THE CROW, unlike the main character, should have stayed dead and buried after its first go-'round.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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