O Corvo III: A Salvação

I found The Crow: Salvation to be a pretty good movie. Not as a good as the original, better than the second one (even though I did like the second one unlike most horror fans).

Did anyone notice that the three Crow movies all follow the same formats. Guy dies wrongfully. Comes back to avenge a group of people (the first one I forget who it was, the second it was drug dealers, and this one it's dirty cops). There's is the sad female character (Lucy from Seventh Heaven in the first one, the one girl in the second, and Kirsten Dunst in Salvation). And then there's the tough female evil character (Japanese woman in the second one, the one blond woman in this one).

Regardless of this, I found The Crow: Salvation very enjoyable. I brought it over to a party tonight and myself and a group of friends watched it together. The scenes of violence were exceptionally well done, especially for a direct-to-video shot.

Crow: Salvation comes out Tuesday, I really reconmend you rent it.

I love "The Crow," and there's not much in my mind that could be done in a sequel to top it. "Salvation," unlike "City of Angels," doesn't try to top the first one, or rip it off... The characters are solid, the performances are great, and the action is non-stop. But what singles this movie out is the story. It's a good story, not just another "Crow" movie. The direction of the film reminds me of the first, very dark, yet crisp (not gritty like the 2nd), and the trick camera angles mixed with the impressive special effects keep the supernatural elements alive as the very human story rolls along.

I work at a video store, and I see all kinds of movies that bypass theatres and come direct to video, and usually there's something about them that tells you why, even the good ones. This had the look and feel of something that, if released at the appropriate time, would have done well in the theatres. It wouldn't have been a smash hit, and it certainty wouldn't bring in as many people as the original did, but it deserves much better than this.

If you're fans of the franchise, I highly recommend that you see this. If you like the first one, but that's it, then expand your horizons a little and try to see this for what it is, and not what you thought it would be. It's a sequel to a GREAT movie, and it ends up being a pretty good movie on it's own...

The Crow was a great film. COA was a good film. Salvation lies somewhere in between them.

The acting, though crapped on by the majority, was pretty good. Eric Mabius played a good crow, who seemed to enjoy his powers a bit and had some witty superhero-esque lines. Kirsten Dunst was nowhere near as bad as others have said she was. Actually she was damn good. Fred Ward was a GREAT bad guy, rivaling Michael Wincott from the first film. The supporting cast all filled their roles well.

Some people complain about the dialouge being terrble. Not really. Some of it was good, some of it was simply plain. One scene that stood out as absolutely terrible is the scene where Corvus persuades Erin Randell to keep her sister's necklace. I can think of ten different ways that scene could have been written better with dialogue that was not CHEESY.

There is plenty of good stuff in this film. We have a GREAT execution scene in the beginning, plenty of action,a hero you could feel sorry for, some good drama, and, yes, for all you perverts, this does have the T&A that is typical of a crow film.

If you're a fan of the franchise and not looking for anything new to be added, then you'll like this. If you didn't like the first one or are expecting something completely originally, then you should skip. I'd rank this film a 9

Erin (Kirsten Dunst) and her father Nathan Randall (William Atherton) attend the execution of Alex Corvis (Eric Mabius) for the murder of her sister Lauren (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Alex maintains his innocence to the end. After the execution, he is resurrected by a crow into The Crow. He uncovers that Lauren was killed by a group of corrupt cops and he seeks revenge.

This is an inferior sequel of the cult classic. There are a few solid actors. The story is simple revenge as the Crow franchise tends to be. The effects and action are limited B-movie fare. There are explosions and car crashes but nothing special or filmed that well. Eric Mabius' strawberry blonde hair doesn't really fit my vision of the Crow and he doesn't have the threatening intensity. He doesn't have the darkness to be The Crow. The most annoying part is Kirsten Dunst's over-acting in big emotional moments. She has fair acting chops even in her younger days but her cry-acting really annoyed me. The blubbering diffuses all the tension. It makes this B-movie even campier.

The Crow: Salvation, like the other sequel, will never be able to duplicate what Brandon Lee created. He put a raw, uninhibited energy into it that made the story seem more real. Although Eric Mabius is himself a fabulous actor, his performance in this film is somewhat lukewarm, and lacks the necessary realism to make a film like this work. However, all in all, not a bad deal, and it's one that I would watch again (although I wouldn't watch it 20,000 times like I have with the original Crow so far!)