The Crow: City of Angels

While the filmmakers and studio originally intended to create a substantially different film to the first one (out of respect for Brandon Lee), Miramax ordered the film to be re-edited so as to resemble the earlier one as much as possible. Tim Pope refused and he, along with David S. Goyer, eventually disowned the film, as it did not represent their vision.

(at around 22 mins) When Ashe is getting dressed in the leathers, we see his hand running up the side of his leg. Here he is already wearing the long leather jacket. A few minutes later, he dramatically puts on the jacket (for the first time).

The following scenes were in the original 160 minutes long workprint version of the film, but were cut from the theatrical version by Miramax and Harvey Weinsten in order to make The Crow: City of Angels more like The Crow. Originally, it was very different film with lot darker tone and story; Sarah had a longer voice over in the beginning of the film. There were more scenes between all the villains throughout original cut. Opening scene originally showed Ashe and Danny being killed and more of gang's cruel mockery of them. Scene where Sarah is in her loft and has visions of Ashe's death was longer and it showed her being more freaked out by those visions. Scene where Curve attacks Noah and Sarah and the following scene of Sarah breaking down in parking lot originally took place in this part of the film. There was also some more dialogue between Noah and Sarah. Scene with Sarah and the Crow in her loft was longer. As Sarah approaches the pier before Ashe's resurrection, she is attacked by a trio of vagrants who try to rape and mug her, but she is saved by the Crow which attacks the leader and pecks his eye out. While he is underwater Ashe remembers reading stories to Danny. All the flashbacks showing Ashe and Danny were also longer. The Crow "lifts" (resurrects) Ashe out of the water. 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". Scene where mad Ashe is trashing his garage in a fit of rage was longer, and had more dialogue between him and Sarah, including Ashe talking more about Danny. Ashe originally had more of a "Poetic" dialogue, because he inherits a new personality after he is resurrected by the crow. 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. There was a scene which showed Ashe arriving at Live Girl building before Nemo. Ashe's beating of Nemo was even more brutal, and the guard uses a silent alarm to alert Judah, explaining how Curve, Kali, and The Twins knew to go there. 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, seeing all the sexual humiliation she went through her whole life. He tells her that she should value what's left of her soul and to never come back "here" again. After finding Nemo's dead body and Ashe's phone call, there was a dialogue scene between Curve and Kali, and when Curve walks out he sees the Crow. During the church scene Ashe encounters a young Mexican boy who also calls him 'Santa Muerte'. 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. Sarah tells Ashe about her past, about Eric and the events of the first film and how her mother Darla eventually became a junkie again and OD'd, causing Sarah to briefly fall into drugs before going clean and leaving Detroit with Gabriel. She also tells Ashe about Grace, thus explaining Ashe's run in with Grace, which originally took place after this scene. Ashe also tells her more about his own past before she finally tells him that if he refuses to leave the world of the living, he will be damned. Scene between Judah, Curve, Kali, and Sybil in the tower is longer and shows more of Curve's growing fear and paranoia and tension between him and Kali. The other scene in Judah's tower is also longer, and establishes how Judah figures out he needs the blood of the Crow. 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. At one point Curve almost gets hit by a delivery van. The final confrontation between Ashe and Curve was longer, with Ashe quoting A Rendezvous with Death poem to freak Curve out, which is effective when he screams "You think I'm afraid of you?!" before rushing at Ashe in a kamikaze move. 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 the crash, Ashe tosses the shotgun away. After dragging the injured Curve into the river, Ashe takes his 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 fight scene between Ashe and Kali was longer; Kali uses a 2x4, which Ashe dodges and breaks Kali's arm. Ashe was also 'psychotic' in this scene. 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, due to her back being 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. Sarah's scene with Judah and Sybil was much longer, and Judah reveals Noah's death to Sarah to torment her and his motivations in wanting the crow's power; he tells her how when he was a child, he had a near-death experience when fell into icy water, drowning and nearly dying and visiting Hell before he was revived. He enjoyed what he saw but came back with forbidden knowledge and compares it to what Hamlet's father said about the afterlife, leading to his obsession with the occult and becoming the way that he is, and now he wants the power to defeat death itself and uses Dante's Inferno as an example of what to do. To escape hell one must go to its center and to defeat death one must trade places with it. When Ashe arrives at the street party he originally crashed into a horse-drawn carriage. The driver and passengers get out to help him but he's already recovered and moves into the crowd. The carriage can still be seen in the background when he arrives. Judah explains what the Camera Obscura is to Sarah before showing her the misericords. Ashe's talk with the ghost of Danny was different. Instead of Danny saying to Ashe "If you give up now, we won't be together" Danny is pleading for his dad to come to the land of the dead, telling him if he keeps fighting they can never be together again. Ashe can't bring himself to abandon Sarah, so forces himself to refuse, cursing himself to live on earth for eternity (since he is already dead and hence can't die). But Danny warns Ashe in a dark voice, hinting at some other dark spirit involved in the Crow, before pleading with his dad one last time and saying a tearful goodbye before vanishing into the crowd. After Ashe wakes up from his vision, he chases after what he thinks is Danny into the crowd, only to run into a drunk dwarf who mocks Ashe, thinking he wants sex. Ashe and Judah's fight was much longer and more personal, with more dialogue between them during the fight before Ashe pulls out Curve's gun which he took from him earlier and unloads it into Judah's chest, who withstands it and then begins to lay a brutal beat down on Ashe the crowd think it's just a show that Judah is putting on for them in celebration of Day of the Dead. Ashe tries to punch Judah, but Judah crushes his hand. Sybil explains herself to Sarah after freeing her, saying that the Judah she once loved is gone and could take over the world with his newfound invincibility if he's not stopped. As Sarah gets into an elevator and heads for the street, Sybil begs God to forgive her for her part in Judah's evil. Judah and Ashe's fight continues, Ashe getting the shit beaten out of him, and when he is hung up by Judah, Danny's drawing then falls out of Ashe's pocket and Judah rips it up, mocking Ashe and Danny as he does so. When Sarah arrives she begs people in the crowd to help Ashe. After Sarah is stabbed by Judah, the whole crowd becomes silent realizing it is real. When the Crows fly down to Ashe, he feels the pain of others like him, seeing faces of past Crows, including Eric, who heal Ashe's wounds. Judah was originally violently ripped and torn apart by the crows, his flesh torn from his body before his still living and screaming skeleton is taken away by the murder of crows. After the crows have taken Judah, Ashe looks down at his hands. His wounds close up and the blood is gone from his mouth. By passing through him, they have "cleaned" his body. This explains the goof in the theatrical version where the blood on Ashe's mouth is suddenly gone in the next shot when he lays down by Sarah on the ground. In original version, Sarah's death was longer, with Ashe crying the whole time. 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." Because Ashe chose Sarah on Earth over Danny in Heaven which led to her (an innocent person) being killed, Ashe must stay on Earth forever as part of the undead without her or Danny. Sybil watches from the Camera Obscura before setting the tied up Stag Beetle free, and then following it into the shadows. Ashe takes Sarah's journal before destroying her apartment so that he does not remember her anymore and won't be tortured by the memory of failing to save her. 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. Trailers for the film show parts of the original ending, like Ashe kissing Sarah when he puts her on altar. This ending 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 (also shown in trailers). 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) "This city is full of shadows, one more won't make it any darker." He leaves the church to find the sun rising, and clutches the ring to his chest before the scene where he sees Grace and talks to her.

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