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 nomination.

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 | murder | drugs | revenge | power | 

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Taglines:

Belive in the power of another.

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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, 1 September 1996, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$17,883,659, 1 December 1996

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,500,000

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

(at around 36 mins) The rhyme about crows comes from the original comic book "The Crow" by James O'Barr.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 4 mins) The piece of metal from the motorcycle that pierces Curves stomach disappears in the water when the flower crow is made.

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Quotes

Ashe Corven: Do you know what they call a gathering of crows? Curve? A murder. A murder of crows. Think about it.

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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 Curve screams "You think I'm afraid of you?!" he pees his pants because he is afraid of Ashe.
• 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.
• Theatrical version of fight scene between Kali and Ashe was part of the re-shoots by Miramax studio. Original fight scene between them was longer. Kali uses a 2x4 and a sword. When Kali tries to slice Ashe with her sword, Ashe dodges and breaks Kali's arm. 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. Dialogue between her and Ashe was also deleted. 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. While he leaves, some thugs come and rape Kali to death.
• 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

Referenced in Deformed Monsters (1997)

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Soundtracks

Paper Dress
Performed by The Toadies
Produced by Paul Leary
Music by V. Todd Lewis & Darrel Herbert
Lyrics by V. Todd Lewis
Published by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)/Interscope Pearl Music, Inc. (BM), Todd Lewis (BMI) & Darrel Herbert (BMI)
All rights administered by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)
Recorded at Arlyn Studios (Austin, Texas)
Remixed by Wolfgang Amadeus and Paul Leary at Mad Hatter
Toadies appear courtesy of Interscope Records

User Reviews

Not as commercial as many have thought...

Many people who claim to be crowfans say that this film isn't what the Crow is all about but they don't bother to explain why. Many of those people only like the first film and nothing else. While the first movie is my favorite film, it's sequel is certainly worthy of the Crow title and upholds the mythology set by the first film.

This movie could have been better than it was, however. 1/4 of the movie was left on the cutting room floor. Alternate dialogue. Alternate endings. The very good fight/death scene of Kali was actually a great scene beforehand. She doesn't die as soon as she is thrown out the window, but there is some additionally dialogue that expands both her character and the character of Ashe.

When a powerless Ashe falls from grace at the end of the film, rather than Danny's ghost telling his father that "if you stop now, we can never be together", Danny tells Ashe that "it's time to go" but Ashe refuses because he can't leave Sarah to die. With that, Danny turns his back on his father and we don't see him for the rest of the film. This scene solifies Ashe's internal conflict in a very tragic, heart-breaking manor.

What internal conflict you ask? Ashe was torn on whether or not he should complete his mission and join his son in the afterlife or stay with Sarah in the world of the living. You weren't aware of this in the film? It was really only hinted at in the current version. So it all ends happily right? Ashe, Sarah, and Danny are cross into the land of the dead and we have one big happy family, right? Wrong. In the original version, Ashe doesn't go back because his crow is too...well, dead to carry his soul back to the land of the dead. So he is forced to walk the earth separated from those he really loves.

COA was originally a more depressing take on the themes of the first film. There was less similarity in story. Saldy, many scenes were cut for no reason and the ending was changed to make the film more hollywood. What could have been a great film with a great story turned out to be a visually impressive film with vague bits and pieces of a story. It didn't have the deep emotional story of the first because it didn't try to. It was a rather depressing drama of a hero who succeeds and fails at the same time. A different take on the Crow.

But the complaints of the story being too similar does ring true here. Mostly because the stuff that made it different was cut. The makers were probably afraid of fan backlash. Ironic, huh? Vincent Perez was AWESOME as Ashe. I like Brandon Lee better, but Perez manages to give a good performance of a man who contemplates what exactly to do with the second chance he's been given. He also has the insanity thing going well for him. He's different from Brandon Lee/Eric Draven. Standouts from the supporting cast are Iggy Pop and Thomas Jane. Jane's strip club scene was hilarious and Iggy gives a badly written role more energy than it deserved. His scenes with Vincent were great.

There were downsides besides the ones I just mentioned. The movie lacked the good action sequences of the first film. There were a few stand outs but that's it. I was displeased that they never showed Ashe's wounds heal up. The final confrontation between Ashe and Judah should've been longer. The CGI in the movie was terrible. Judah should have been savagely picked apart when he was attacked by the crows, not disappear into nothing. The girl who played Sarah could get extremely annoying at times and the early scenes that focus on her are quite boring. It takes a bit too long for Ashe to get painted up and start on his mission. Why some of the crap scenes were left in and some of the good parts were cut out is a mystery.

Oh and for those who complain about this movie disrespecting Brandon Lee, how do you figure that? Really, I'd like to know. I've heard that this movie was done for money...all movies are done for money. Yes, even the first Crow.

All in all, COA does have serious problems and an annoying plothole or two, but it is far from one of the worst movies ever. See it if you liked the first film and you're looking for an alternative story with the same themes.

Current Version-6 If the original footage was left intact-8.5 or 9