The Crow: Salvation
It wasn’t long after “The Crow: Salvation” began that I remembered why the film, the third in Dimension’s Gothic revenge franchise, worked for me as much as its immediate predecessor, “The Crow: City of Angel,” did not. While all of those who are brought back as The Crow in this franchise are innocent victims, Alex Corvis, the character brought back to life in “Salvation,” feels genuinely so like Eric Draven was in the original. Convicted in the murder of his girlfriend, Lauren (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe), Corvis is executed while always maintaining his innocence, and indeed the real murderer reveals himself to Alex. As with the rest of the films, a crow brings him back so that he can find peace through vengeance.
The screenplay by Chip Johannessen does well to combine a police thriller and the “Crow” formula into a fresh take on the innocent-man-wrongly-accused story. Though best known for his television writing on the likes of “24,” “Millennium,” and now “Dexter,” his script for this film (to date, his only feature screenplay) is ingenious in the ways it adheres to the “Crow” mythology and imagery while finding new life in the franchise, and this is part of why the film succeeds.
Other reasons the film succeeds include (no surprise) the music and Eric Mabius as Corvis. As with the previous films in the franchise, the soundtrack combines hard rock songs by the likes of Hole, Kid Rock, and Rob Zombie with a melancholy orchestral score– this time provided by Marco Beltrami. Replacing previous franchise composer Graeme Revell, Beltrami was best known for his work in previous Dimension films like “Scream” and “Mimic,” although he has now become a skilled and well-known genre composer with credits including “Hellboy,” “I, Robot,” “Knowing,” and “The Hurt Locker” (which earned him an Oscar nomination). His score for “The Crow: Salvation” lacks the memorable theme and distinct sound of Revell’s work, but it resonates with feeling and excitement, a sign of things to come for this composer.
The biggest reason “Salvation” works, however, is Mabius. At the time I’d known him best for a small role he had in “Cruel Intentions,” but sadly I haven’t seen much of him since (although fans of the show “Ugly Betty” have). It’s a shame because although Mabius’s performance doesn’t reach the star-making highs of Brandon Lee’s in the original film, his work lacks the wretched excess and melodrama of Vincent Perez in “City of Angels” and Edward Furlong in “The Crow: Wicked Prayer,” which is the biggest validation for the film’s existence. Unfortunately, probably because of this film’s “direct-to-video” reputation, “Salvation” is looked at as just another terrible sequel that didn’t need to be made. I’m sorry, but I can’t lump this in the same company as “City of Angels” (which was compromised in post-production) and “Wicked Prayer” (which was a terrible waste of acting talent and a potentially compelling story); it succeeds in so many areas where those two ultimately failed.
The film was directed by Bharat Nalluri, who has spent much of his time directing television and a few features (including the comedy “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”). He lacks the visual flair of previous directors Alex Proyas and Tim Pope, but he manages to create a world within the film that serves the story. He also doesn’t waste the rest of his cast, including: William Atherton as Lauren’s father, Fred Ward as a police captain with something to hide, Grant Shaud as Alex’s sympathetic lawyer, and Kirsten Dunst as Lauren’s sister, Erin, who becomes a confidante to Alex as he exacts revenge. Yes, Kirsten Dunst was in this; it was before she became a star with “Bring It On” and the “Spider-Man” movies. She handles herself well in this film, which maybe stretches things out too much by the end, but nonetheless shows that, yes, there was some real potential in turning James O’Barr’s concept into a sustained franchise.
