The Crow: Salvation

The best you can say about “The Crow: Salvation,” released in 2000, is that it’s not another bad redoing of the first movie. That doesn’t mean that it’s unwatchable in any way, but at least it has a new and original plot. Gena Radcliffe said in her review, “We’re back to murdered lovers, but here their deaths are related to an extremely complicated (and completely moronic) police corruption ring that also involves underground adult clubs, drug smuggling and secret taxidermy/torture rooms. With much of the plot hinging on a mysterious man with a scarred arm, it’s more of a limp spin on The Fugitive than a Crow movie.”

Like the last movie, the boring protagonist, played by Eric Mabius, is joined with a ridiculous cast of actors, including “Ghostbusters” villain William Atherton, “Murphy Brown’s” Grant Shaud, Walton Goggins, Fred Ward, and Kiristen Dunst, in between her popular roles in “The Virgin Suicides” and “Bring it On.” She’s bad in this one, but to be far every person is in some way. Fred Ward at least looks like he knows what kind of garbage he is, while everyone else seems to be playing it straight.

Because the story changes a little in each movie, this one has a magical locked that gives the Crow his powers and invincibility. On top of that, he can fly, which comes right out of nowhere.

This sequel is probably the least bad of the sequels, which is low, and absolutely should not be meant that this film is good. Radcliffe noted, “With its youthful lead (Mabius co-starred in Cruel Intentions just a year before) it seems like it might have been marketed towards a younger audience, as if the earlier movies were big with the Matlock and Metamucil crowd.” Like the last sequel, the audience is told that they’re supposed to care about the two lovebirds and what’s happened to them, when everything they see is told through a series of rough flashbacks, and no sense of who they are as people. Radcliffe ended her review by saying, “It omits any sense of heart or soul, coming off like an extended music video, one in which the audio is regrettably provided by Static-X and Kid Rock.”

As previously mentioned, this one is not as bad as the last movie, but it is still a pain to sit through. Why did filmmakers feel like there were more to be told in this franchise? Could they have not just left it off with the first one? That was one of the greatest comic book adaptations ever. There was no need for these painful sequels! Just avoid this one because you will not find any redeeming factor in this at all.

Well everyone, hold on to your seats because next week we’re going to finish off “The Crow Month” with the last attempt they tried at this franchise.