The Crow: City of Angels
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| The Crow: City of Angels | |
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 Movie poster for The Crow: City of Angels |
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| Directed by | Tim Pope |
| Written by | David S. Goyer |
| Starring | Vincent Perez Mia Kirshner Richard Brooks Iggy Pop Thuy Trang |
| Distributed by | Miramax/Dimension Films |
| Release date(s) | August 30, 1996 (USA) |
| Running time | 84 min |
| Country | U.S. |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Crow |
| Followed by | The Crow: Stairway to Heaven |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Crow: City of Angels is a 1996 action film and a sequel to the cult movie The Crow. The film was directed by Tim Pope.
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[edit] Plot
Vincent Perez plays a man named Ashe Corven, who is killed alongside his son by a gang of criminals after witnessing a murder, similar to Eric Draven's demise in the first film. As in the first movie, he is resurrected by a supernatural crow and seeks revenge with his new-found powers, killing his murderers one by one until he faces off with the crime boss who ordered his death. Along the way he encounters Sarah from the first film, now an adult (played by Mia Kirshner) and obsessed with the paranormal, and she helps him take his revenge. The crime boss, Judah Earl (played by Richard Brooks), wants Ashe's powers for himself, however, and will do his worst to get them.
Several of the plot devices and subplots removed from the movie along with alternate versions of many other scenes from the movie appear in the novelization of the film.
The film was followed by a second sequel, The Crow: Salvation in 2000 and the TV series, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven.
[edit] Cast
- Vincent Perez: Ashe Corven/The Crow
- Mia Kirshner: Sarah
- Richard Brooks: Judah Earl
- Iggy Pop: Curve
- Thomas Jane: Nemo
- Vincent Castellanos: Spider Monkey
- Thuy Trang: Kali
- Eric Acosta: Danny
- Ian Dury: Noah
- Tracey Ellis: Sybill
[edit] Deleted footage
This movie was heavily cut/edited by Miramax/Dimension Films (the distributor) upon its release. The following footage can only be seen in the workprint and pay-per-view versions of the film:
- After Ashe's resurrection, Sarah takes him back to her loft where he wakes up. He does not want to believe that he is dead, so Sarah stabs him in the chest with a kitchen knife to prove it to him. Ashe, with a look of horror and disbelief, pulls the knife out of his chest and then runs away as in the released theatrical version.
- Ashe's last name (Corven) is clearly revealed as he runs back to his garage after his resurrection. The garage reads "Corven's Body Shop."
- In his fight with Spider Monkey, Ashe picks up a pistol and says, "Don't try this at home, kids" before shooting himself in the head. Ashe then collapses to the ground, faking death. As Spider-Monkey approaches him, Ashe pops back up to his feet and scares Spider-Monkey.
- Ashe fights with Judah's thugs outside of a church. Ashe tells one of them that if he (the thug) has a gun he should shoot him. The thug hesitates, and Ashe takes his gun, forcing the thugs to flee.
- After killing Nemo, Ashe grabs the stripper Nemo was with and tells her not to come here again.
- Ashe does not burn Danny's painting. Instead, it falls out of Ashe's coat pocket during his final confrontation with Judah, who rips it up.
- When Kali fights Ashe, she uses a katana instead of a knife. She also gets her arm broken while fighting (hence why she moves on one side after being thrown into the wall by Ashe later in the fight).
- Ashe changes from a crow then reverts back to human form when he goes down to Kali after throwing her out of the window.
- Kali is still alive and slowly dying after being thrown out of the window. She then begs Ashe to kill her quickly. Ashe refuses and leaves her to die slowly as her blood forms the symbol of the crow.
- Judah tells Sarah when he's captured her about himself drowning and nearly dying when he was younger, leading to his obsession with the occult.
- The ending is different. When Ashe sees the spectre of Danny at the festival, instead of Danny saying to Ashe "if you give up now, we won't be together", he instead says "It is time to go now" and Ashe refuses, saying he has to save Sarah. By doing so he gives up his chance to return to heaven, cursing himself to live on earth for eternity (since he is already dead and hence can't die). When he carries Sarah's body to the church, a priest asks him "What will you do now, my son?". Ashe replies that he can't let another shadow take over Los Angeles. The flashback shown at the end of the released film was originally at an earlier point in the film.
Several attempts by fans of the film have been made to locate a director's cut version. When aired on Pay-Per View, the movie had much of its deleted footage restored. The most complete version available today is a fan made cut using some lost footage and subtitled animatics to tell the story as it was originally conceived.
[edit] Adaptations
The screenplay for City of Angels was adapted into a novel by Chet Williamson as well as a three-issue comic book series published by Kitchen Sink Press, both of which feature the original ending of the story.
A video game based on the film was also produced.
[edit] Trivia
- Ashe's last name, Corven, is a variation of "Michael Corvin", which was the name Miramax used in this film's teaser trailer.
- Deftones appear in this film during the "Day of the Dead" festival.
- The girl that Nemo finds in the club is named "Holly Daze". Inverting the first two letters of the words, it will become "Dolly Haze", one of the main characters of Vladimir Nabokov's book, Lolita. This is a possible reference to the sexist themes of the book and the situation of Nemo and Holly.
[edit] External links
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