The Crow: City of Angels (1996)

The spirit of the Crow resurrects another man seeking revenge for the murder of his son.

Director:

Tim Pope

Writers:

James O'Barr (comic book series and comic strip), David S. Goyer

Stars:

Vincent Perez, Mia Kirshner, Richard Brooks

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent Perez	...	Ashe Corven / The Crow
Mia Kirshner	...	Sarah
Richard Brooks	...	Judah Earl
Iggy Pop	...	Curve
Thomas Jane	...	Nemo
Vincent Castellanos	...	Spider Monkey
Thuy Trang	...	Kali
Eric Acosta	...	Danny
Ian Dury	...	Noah
Tracey Ellis	...	Sybil
Beverley Mitchell	...	Grace
Aaron Thell Smith	...	Tattoo Customer
Alan Gelfant	...	Bassett
Shelly Desai	...	Hindu
Holley Chant	...	Holly Daze

Storyline

Some time ago, Ashe Corven and his son Danny were killed when they stumbled across a pack of drug dealers murdering a fellow dealer. The dealers work for Los Angeles drug kingpin Judah Earl. Local tattoo artist Sarah, who has great knowledge of the crow legend because of what happened with her late friend Eric Draven, has been having dreams about Ashe and Danny. One night when a crow leads her to the scene of the murders of Ashe and Danny, Ashe appears before her. The crow has resurrected Ashe, so Ashe can go after Judah and his right hand man Curve. With the guidance of the crow, Ashe starts killing off Judah's men one by one, on his way to Judah.

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Plot Keywords:

back from the dead | cringe comedy | weird | post punk | psychotronic film | 

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Taglines:

It's another time. It's another world. And another has been chosen.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Fantasy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, drug content, language and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Pressman Films

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 August 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Crow 2

Filming Locations:

Front Street Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,785,111, 2 September 1996

Gross USA:

$17,917,287

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$17,917,287

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Bird Productions, Dimension Films, Jeff Most Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The band playing the Day of the Dead festival near the end of the movie are non other that Sacreamento alt rockers, Deftones. They hadn't even had their first album released at the time.

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Goofs

(at around 34 mins) When it shows the strip booth, the counter starts at 65, counts down to 62, then jumps back to 69.

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Quotes

Judah: If you whip him does he not bleed?

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Alternate Versions

The following scenes were in the original 160 minutes long workprint version of the film, but were cut from the theatrical version by Miramax in order to make The Crow: City of Angels more like The Crow:

• Sarah had a longer voice over in the beginning of the film.
• While he is underwater Ashe remembers reading stories to Danny
• The crow "lifts" (resurrects) Ashe.
• After Sarah takes him to her loft and he wakes up, Ashe does not believe he is dead so Sarah takes the kitchen knife and stabs him with it. Scared Ashe than runs away as in theatrical version.
• Ashe's last name (Corven) is clearly revealed as he runs back to his garage after his resurrection. The garage reads "Corven's Body Shop".
• When Ashe is going after Spidermonkey at the Trinity Drug Plant, he takes Spidermonkey's gun and says, "Don't try this at home, kids!", shoots himself in the head and falls on ground. Then as Spidermonkey approaches, Ashe gets up, scaring Spidermonkey.
• When Ashe destroys the Trinity Drug Plant, some thugs come to pick a fight with him. Ashe tells one of them that if he (the thug) has a gun he should shoot him (Ashe). The thug hesitates, and Ashe takes his gun, scaring the thugs and forcing them to flee.
• After killing Nemo, Ashe confronts Holly Daze, the stripper who was talking to Nemo at Live Girl building. Ashe grabs her and looks into her eyes. He tells her that she should value what's left of her soul and to never come back "here" again.
• In original version, when Ashe builds Danny's grave he does not burn his painting.
• Originally, there was more dialogue and love scenes between Ashe and Sarah.
• In original version Kali's and Curve's deaths happened the other way around.
• In the scene where Ashe is being shot by thugs at bar while Curve escapes, Ashe grabs the shotgun he took earlier when he killed Nemo and kills the thugs.
• Ashe/Curve motorcycle chase scene was longer.
• When Ashe blows up Curve's motorcycle with his shotgun, Curve is on the ground with his crotch on fire. Glimpse of this scene is still visible in theatrical version when Curve hits the ground.
• After dragging the injured Curve into the water, Ashe steals Curves gun and puts it into his coat. It's hard to see in theatrical version, but once Curve starts floating away his gun disappears from his pants.
• The Twins and Kali shoot at Sarah's apartment door features then trash Sarah's apartment and destroy her paintings.
• Original fight scene between Kali and Ashe was longer. Kali also uses a 2x4. Ashe was also 'psychotic' in this scene, especially as he recites the 'Shh...hush little baby..' dialogue.
• When Kali is thrown out of the window, a shadow of a giant crow morphing into Ashe is visible showing that the Crow and Ashe are one.
• Kali's death is different. She is still alive, though crippled and unable to move, cause her back were broken after being thrown out of the window, and she is seen crawling along the ground. Ashe comes out of nowhere and Kali begs him to kill her because she is in pain. Ashe refuses and smiles as he stands over her, telling her that he has already sent her to Hell.
• Judah reveals his motivations in wanting the crow's power, he tells Sarah when he has captured her about himself falling in icy water, drowning and nearly dying when he was younger and visiting hell before he was revived, which he enjoyed, leading to his obsession with the occult and becoming the way that he is.
• At the Day of the Dead festival, two more characters called Louis and Amede are shown.
• When Ashe is climbing Judah's headquarters, The Twins follow him. One falls off the building and ends up decapitated.
• When the ghost of Danny is at the Day of the Dead festival, instead of Danny saying to Ashe "If you give up now, we won't be together." He says instead, "It is time to go now," and Ashe refuses, saying he has to save Sarah. By doing so, he gives up his chance to return to Heaven, cursing himself to live on earth for eternity (since he is already dead and hence can't die). Danny disappears, Ashe looks for him in the crowd and turns a drunk guy around, believing it was Danny.
• More dialogue between Ashe and Judah during their fight.
• Ashe pulls out Curve's gun which he took from him earlier and unloads it into Judah's chest. It has no effect. Ashe tries to punch Judah, but Judah crushes his hand.
• During the fight scene, Danny's painting falls from Ashes coat and Judah rips it up.
• In original version, Sarah and Ashe talk to each other just before Sarah dies. Ashe says he stayed on earth for her. Sarah gives Ashe her ring and tells him that "If two people really love each other, nothing can keep them apart.. nothing." Ashe cries. Sarah tells him that she'll wait for him, "Forever if i have to."
• Ashe destroys Sarah's apartment so that he does not remember her anymore.
• Ending was very different than the one which was re-shot for theatrical version. Scene where Ashe carries dead Sarah to the church was longer. It also featured Ashe wearing Sarah's ring like Brandon Lee's character Eric did in the first movie. When he sits down, he is looking at Sarah's ring. The word "Forever" is inscribed inside of it. The priest from earlier in the film enters the church and, knowing that Ashe is walking dead, asks why he is "still here". Ashe replies that he has no where to go. Priest then asks Ashe, "What will you do now, my son?", slightly angered Ashe replies (since he is cursed to walk the earth for eternity) "There are already many shadows in this city.. one more won't make a difference."

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Connections

References A Clockwork Orange (1971)

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Soundtracks

Believe in Angels
Performed by Graeme Revell
Written and Produced by Graeme Revell
© 1996 PressmanCherryMusic

User Reviews

A Crow With Broken Wings.

CROW – CITY OF ANGELS is the inevitable follow up to the classic 1994 gothic thriller THE CROW. The laws that state all sequels must be inferior to their predecessors are faithfully obeyed here and the result is a rather mundane and disappointing motion picture that flat lines the whole franchise. Here Vincent Perez (badly miscast) gives a weak performance as the doting single father returning from his watery grave to wreak bloody vengeance upon the gang who killed him and his son. He is aided, in his quest by Sarah; a doe-eyed tattoo artist who fans of the series will note is actually the little girl who was befriended by the central character in the original movie. The film manages to be watchable; the apocalyptic cityscapes work quite well, however a maker of music videos directs CROW – CITY OF ANGELS and it shows in every frame. The film totally lacks the edge of raw emotion and inner pain that made the original movie so effective. All you are left with in the end is a gothic re-working of the DEATH WISH movies with nothing to redeem it once you get tired of the garish purple, yellow and green colour schemes. The main merit of this poor film is the raw performance of legendary rocker Iggy Pop as a cocaine-snorting villain. My rating – 5 out of 10.