Review of The Crow: Salvation (2000) by Tyler B — 16 Jul 2012

This film is actually different, something that every series needs. However it is way out there during the whole film and it makes you feel like your on a drug induced nightmare. This is the first of the series to go DTV after poor test screenings but if given the proper maintenance this could have been a good film. It's actually a decent repsentation of the later 90's/2000 culture. That's a positive as the previous two are touchstones for the goth culture, especially the second film. Now for what I consider to be the positives and negatives of this flick:

POSITIVES: This film is a change of pace, or quite simply different!

Eric Mabius is surprisingly epic as the crow. He looks quite wimpy at first but he grows on you. That's a positive of the series so far as all three Crow's are different and good.

The Supporting cast has some established names: Fred Ward, Dale Midkiff, William Atherton, and Jodi Lynn O'Keeffe. They all act well and back up Mabius fine.

The Love Story is decent. While not as good as Eric and Shelly's from the original you feel for these two.

NEGATIVES:

Kristen Dunst is miscast. She was the popular teen actress of the day, but she was miscast in the role. She is fit for the teen movies of the day not dramatic roles. Plus she did not really fit as Jodi Lynn O'Keefef's sister, she was not pretty enough for me. There was plenty of sexy and brunette teen actresses around in the 1999.

The film is quite gruesome at times. While I am a horror fan and love the violence, this film sometimes goes overboard. The whole electrocution scenes are overdone to the max and unrealistic, and the whole arm scar and tourture scenes are just nasty.

The Soundtrack is horrendous. By 1999 Goth and alternative rock was out and modern rock/.rap was in. And sadly that means Kid Rock was on the CD and in the Film. His song is so/so, but songs by Rob Zombie (who actually wrote a crow script) and Filter (Who's song for the film is quite underrated) save the soundtrack to a quick listen status.

Overall this movie deserves a watch and is quite a decent film. It's negatives drew the rating down but it's a worth the time.