I don’t know if it’s the horrible editing or what, but the final moments are painfully jumbled as writer Goyer explains that Ashe’s power was taken so he was destined to be a wandering soul and drift through the world looking for the afterlife… but he also re-united with the spirit of his son and went in to the afterlife. Which is it, exactly? It seemed like Goyer and co. wanted to end the story in case the third film didn’t pan out but leave it open to interpretation in case Ashe and his tale continued on. “City of Angels” was a golden opportunity that was blown big time from a studio obviously hesitant to explore new realms of O’Barr’s story and just stick to the mold set by Proyas and Brandon Lee. Ashe, not surprisingly, did not come for the third outing. As if that wasn’t enough the third “The Crow” film was turned over to IMF Studios, a company related to Dimension and went on to visit the purgatory known as Direct to Video land, allegedly after piss poor test screenings.
Originally set to be directed and written by none other than Rob Zombie himself (I even remember the news reports on websites prior to the release), he later went on to greener pastures butchering beloved horror characters, and “Salvation” went on to be barely a blip on the genre radar screen enlisting the talents of a cast of great actors like Fred Ward, and William Atherton. Which is surprising considering the plot tries for something different. But it was pretty obvious by “City of Angels” that the studios simply didn’t have enough faith in the idea anymore to push it as a mainstream fixture. With different crews and concepts, this could have been the new Batman, enlisting the performances of very talented young stars to take on the mantle of the crow rather than letting the death of Lee bring down an otherwise potentially brilliant series.
Intended as a big sequel the distributor cancelled its release bringing with it a sad obscurity that not even James O’Barr could save. Providing concept sketches, O’Barr has allegedly gone on record as saying he enjoyed Eric Mabius as Alex Corvis, and I have to agree. I’m one of the few people who also considered Eric Mabius a very underrated character actor and think he could have really hit it big if he’d taken more interesting roles. All this movie really has for it that anyone discusses is the supporting performance by Kirsten Dunst who, at the time, was still on the verge of becoming a huge star, appearing in films like “The Virgin Suicides” and “Dick,” all critically acclaimed but not commercially viable films. Dunst’s appearance here is rather confusing and surprising, but she doesn’t add much.
Released in 2000, “Salvation” tries for a fresh new angle with a story reminiscent of “The Fugitive” by depicting Alex Corvis, a young blond man who is was once in love with a young woman named Lauren. She happens to be the daughter of a local aristocrat who was viciously stabbed to death by an unknown assailant. After trying to find her killer, Alex is accused of being the murderer and is sentenced to death row. In spite of his lawyer promising to find the actual killer someday, Corvis simply has no hope as everyone is vying for his death and he knows he’s a doomed man who has failed in avenging his true love.
Corvis is killed by electrocution thanks to a unique iron mask that they put around his face and as he’s burning from electricity the mystery killer known as “Zig Zag” watching from above reveals to Alex the scars on his arm that prove he is indeed the one who killed Lauren. Burning and dying, Alex watches screaming in anger and dies. This of course is incentive enough for the crow to come for him and help him bring dignity back to his name and prove his innocent. Writer Chip Johannessen tries for some new elements here by keeping the murder a mystery and only revealing the identity of the killer until the very end making Alex’s death all the more dramatic. Not only is Lauren a victim, but Alex is too and his soul simply can not rest. One of the most disturbing aspects of Alex’s resurrection is that instead of painting his face, the mask leaves peculiar burn marks around his face. When he is revived his face is burned and absolutely grotesque.
When he looks at himself in the mirror he literally peels off the dead and burned skin showing the scars that look like, you guessed it, the traditional markings of the crow with the lines around his eyes and lips. While Johannessen goes for the obvious (which I suspect is at the demands of the producers), he also devises a horrific way of revealing this new crow after death, which I thought was very much in the realm of horror rather than fantasy.
The movie is in a constant rush so the pacing is speedy. It takes only a half hour after Alex is killed before he comes back from the dead, there’s no dramatic reveal or music when we see Alex’s new face for the first time, only a dead pan reaction and we delve quickly in to the action set pieces as Alex learns of his new abilities by battling the local guards of the morgue he was put in to. “Salvation” is an interesting experience because it is a mixed bag from the very beginning. The unleashing of Corvis is quite exciting and Johannessen tries something different by enabling Corvis to turn in to an actual crow when flying across the city… in a badly computer animated sequence, mind you. Nonetheless with a bigger budget it would have been quite spectacular.
If I had to pick one of the sequels to watch alongside the original, I’d choose “Salvation.” Is it a masterpiece? No way, but it tries for something different and it works on more than one occasion. Corvis who now bears the markings of the crow seeks out the individual with the zig zag scar and uses his flashbacks as a way of piecing together the mysterious murder of his girlfriend Lauren. Told through flashbacks, we’re able to see the intense love experienced by the two and we also get to see how horrible her murder was. Jodi Lynne O’Keefe, yet another familiar nineties face plays Lauren, Alex’s true love who learns too much about the people her father works with and pays for it dearly.
While I’m not going to sit down and pretend this is something like “LA Confidential,” it aspires to be a neo-noir in the sense that the mystery has to be assembled piece by piece for Alex to find the one person who set him up and initiated the horrible crime. It’s not just Alex going from person to person killing them, he instead investigates and works with his lawyer and old friend to discover who may have brought all of this at their door. Involved with corruption, blackmail, and bribery, Alex learns that it’s more than just a killer bringing down someone he loves, and he involves Lauren’s sister Erin who is still under the idea that Alex committed the crime. Through intervention he’s able to convince her that it’s more than meets the eye and she becomes his aide in payback.