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THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS (1996)

Director: Tim Pope

Vincent Perez, Mia Kirshner, Richard Brooks (II), Iggy Pop, Thomas Jane, Vincent Castellanos, Thuy Trang, Eric Acosta, Ian Dury, Tracey Ellis, Beverly Mitchell.

THIS film attempts to get closer to the original Crow comic. However, without the publicity tragically afforded by the accidental death of Brandon Lee, star of the first Crow movie, I feel this seqel will generally be ignored or viewed as weaker.

This is the sort of film where you know exactly what will happen before you watch, so I wont be giving anything away when I tell you it's all about revenge. Ashe (Vincent Perez) and his son were murdered by Curve (Iggy Pop) and his gruesome gang. This is shown in flashbacks throughout the film, as, one-by-one, Ashe slays his killers. The setting and characters are in the usual gothic style. Yes, we're all doomed, the Sisters of Mercy revival is imminent, but I guess its more effective than if we were confronted by the Gallaghers at Main Road!

Perez's version of the lead character is a lot different to Lee's as in a lot more human. His character tends to be a bit nervous towards becoming what he really is, although he is helped along the way by a female goth tatooist who seems to know what's going on more than anyone. Ian Dury, who continues his career in movie versions of comic classics, appears as her boss until he faces Iggy in the battle of the ageing popstars!

Pope is better known for his pop promo videos like the Cure classic, Close to Me, and this is reflected in the film which relies more on visuals and music than screenplay, and features an impressive soundtrack including Hole and PJ Harvey.

JOHN MARSHALL - 15 December 1996