Review of The Crow: Salvation (2000) by Bradley A — 18 Jul 2010

So here we have the third installment to the series. Is it original? No. Does it offer any new insight to the Crow-myth? No. Should you see it if you didn't like the first Crow? No. Should you see it if you're looking for something more than a remake of the first Crow? Not really. However, if you liked the first Crow, are willing to see more or less the same story again and are a fan of violent action-films, this film will deliver.

Of course, Eric Mabius is no Brandon Lee but he does a ok job in the part. He also delivers his dark oneliners effectively and while there aren't any scenes in this film that would make you laugh, there are some fun lines here and there.

As I already mentioned, much of the things offered here are the same as in the first Crow. So besides the cast, what has changed? The director, of course. This third film is directed by Bharat Nalluri who's visual style is somewhere between Alex Proyas and Tim Pope. The overall look of the film is still very dark and stylish and there are some scenes with a dark blue tone (which resembles the first Crow) while some other scenes are somewhat yellow (the second Crow comes to mind). There are also some nice camera angles and the action-scenes are directed quite well. The composer is also different. Graeme Revell (who's score for the first Crow is one of the best scores I've ever heard) has been replaced by Marco Beltrami (the Scream-movies). I wish they would have stayed with Revell but Beltrami does a fairly good job with the score and the songs also work well.

So overall this is a worthwhile addition to the series and I recommend it to everyone who enjoys a decent action film. I wasn't expecting anything new or original so I didn't raise the bar to high going into this film, I just wanted to see a action film and that's exactly what I got. Although far from being a great film (it is slightly too long), this is ok time waster. Seen better but seen alot worse.