The Crow: City of Angels

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The Crow: City of Angels

Movie poster for The Crow: City of Angels
Directed by Tim Pope
Written by David S. Goyer
Starring Vincent Perez, Mia Kirshner, Richard Brooks, Iggy Pop, Thuy Trang
Release date(s) August 30, 1996(USA)
Running time 84 min
Country USA
Language English
Preceded by The Crow
Followed by The Crow: Stairway to Heaven
IMDb profile

The Crow: City of Angels is the 1996 sequel to cult movie and comic The Crow by James O'Barr, directed by Tim Pope.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Ashe Corven is resurrected as The Crow.
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Ashe Corven is resurrected as The Crow.

Vincent Perez plays a man named Ashe Corven, who is killed alongside his son by a gang of criminals, similar to Eric Draven's demise in the first film. As in the first movie, he is resurrected by a supernatural crow and seeks revenge with his new-found powers, killing his murderers one by one until he faces off with the crime boss who'd ordered his death. Along the way he encounters Sarah from the first film, now an adult (played by Mia Kirshner) and obsessed with the paranormal, and she helps him take his revenge. The crime boss, Judah Earl (played by Richard Brooks), wants Ashe's powers for himself, however, and will do his worst to get them.

Several plot devices and subplots removed from the movie appear in the novelization of the film, including explanation for Sarah and Ashe's connection and other large details.

Once again there is a strong soundtrack and two music legends have large acting roles throughout the film - Ian Dury as a friend of Sarah's, and Iggy Pop as one of the more vicious murderers.

There was a video game based on the Movie released on Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn and PC CD-ROM.

The film was followed by The Crow: Salvation in 2000 and TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Deleted footage

This movie was heavily cut/edited by Miramax/Dimension Films (the distributor) upon its release. The following footage can only be seen in the workprint and pay-per-view versions of the film:

  • After Ashe's resurrection and Sarah takes him back to her loft and he wakes up. He doesn't want to believe that he is dead, so Sarah stabs him in the chest with a kitchen knife to prove her claim. Ashe, with a look of horror and disbelief, pulls the knife out of his chest. He then runs away like in the released 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."
  • In the Ashe/Spider-Monkey's Ashe picks up a pistol and says, "Don't try this at home, kids" before shooting himself in the head to display his invincibility. Ashe then collapses to the ground faking death. As Spider-Monkey approaches him, Ashe pops back up to his feet and scares Spider-Monkey.
  • Ashe/thugs have a confrontation outside of the destroyed drug plant after Spider-Monkey's death. Ashe tells one of them that if he (the thug) has a gun he should shoot him. The thug hesitates, and Ashe takes his gun, forcing the thug to flee.
  • After Nemo is killed, Ashe grabs Holly Daze (the stripper Nemo was with) and tells her not to come here again.
  • Ashe doesn't burn Danny's painting. Instead, it falls out of Ashe's coat pocket during the Ashe/Judah finale scene where Judah rips it up.
  • Kali fights with a Katana instead of a 2x4 and get's her arm broken (hence why she moves on one side after being thrown into the wall by Ashe later in the fight).
  • Kali is still alive after being thrown out of the window. Kali then commands/begs Ashe to finish her quickly rather than let her die slowly. Ashe refuses and leaves her to die slowly instead (i.e. so she suffers being a cripple briefly first).
  • Ashe changes from a crow then reverts back to human form when he goes down to Kali after throwing her out of the window.
  • Judah tells Sarah when he's captured her about himself drowning and nearly dying leading to his obsession with evil and the occult.
  • The ending is different. When Ashe sees the spectre of Danny at the festival, instead of Danny saying to Ashe "if you give up now, we won't be together", he instead says "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). When he carries Sarah's body to the church the priest asks him "What will you do now, my son?" Ashe replies that he can't let another shadow take over Los Angeles. The flashback shown at the end of the released film was originally at an earlier point in the film.

[edit] Trivia

  • "Crow" creator James O'Barr reportedly only participated in this film to see his original vision wasn't trashed. He has since expressed belief that the original film is by far the most faithful to his work, and the sequels are more bad than good. He did like Eric Mabius' performance in the third entry, "Salvation", but stated the overall film suffered greatly due to other reasons.
  • Ashe's last name, Corven, is a variation of "Michael Corvin", which was the name Miramax used in this film's teaser trailer. It is also similar to the Latin word for crow, "corvis", which was used for the character of Alex in the sequel.

[edit] External links

The Crow
James O'Barr | The Crow comic book
Film and television
The Crow (1994) | The Crow: City of Angels (1996)
The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (1998 series) | The Crow: Salvation (2000)
Wings of the Crow (2000 fan film) | The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005)
Music
The Crow soundtrack (1994) | The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack (1996)
The Crow: Salvation soundtrack (2000)
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