While THE CROW is one of the freshest anti-superhero movies of the 1990s, the various sequels and spin-offs that have followed it have been of mixed quality. This effort, the last to date, is by far the worst, an ill-conceived and frankly stupid effort to tell the same kind of story on a little budget. After a super-stylish opening sequence – by far the best thing in the film, it gave me hope that this might be actually good – we're thrown into a stomach-churning mess of repellent, off-screen violence, idiotic characters, a distinct lack of anybody to root for, and a kind of rubbery, B-movie atmosphere. The two things to blame the most for this are the script, which is profanely diabolical, and the direction, which is of sub-film school quality.
It's a real shame, because there's a B-movie cast who might have done better with different material. First up is Eddie Furlong, everybody's favourite John Connor, all grown up with an angsty streak. Sadly, he seems to be struggling to bring life (ha ha) to his role as The Crow, and he just comes across as irritating. He's less irritating, though, than the bad guys, who truly are a despicable bunch, and not in a good way; you want to stave their heads in every moment they're on screen. Worst of the lot is David Boreanaz, giving an abominable performance which, by rights, should have sunk his career. Over-the-top isn't the phrase for his appalling overacting on show here. Just as bad is the hopeless Tara Reid, clearly out of her depth and floundering; sadly nobody gives her a lifeline, and by the end the suggestion that we're supposed to empathise with her is, well, just ridiculous.
There are familiar faces lower down the cast list: requisite Japanese guy Yuji Okumoto (ROBOT JOX) as a henchman, and the always-great Danny Trejo as an Indian priest. Even the likes of Macy Gray (annoying) and Dennis Hopper (embarrassed) pop up in the final reel to no avail. The action consists of people being thrown through the air or innocent folk being shot, and apart from a single neck break, all of the violence and bloodshed is kept off screen, no doubt for budget reasons (although it looks like it's been censored more than anything else). The ending is particularly excruciating. The one memorable scene – for all the wrong reasons – sees Danny Trejo's priest performing an ancient Indian dance over the body of a dying bird; it's the one moment that got a genuine chuckle from this viewer.
It's a real shame, because there's a B-movie cast who might have done better with different material. First up is Eddie Furlong, everybody's favourite John Connor, all grown up with an angsty streak. Sadly, he seems to be struggling to bring life (ha ha) to his role as The Crow, and he just comes across as irritating. He's less irritating, though, than the bad guys, who truly are a despicable bunch, and not in a good way; you want to stave their heads in every moment they're on screen. Worst of the lot is David Boreanaz, giving an abominable performance which, by rights, should have sunk his career. Over-the-top isn't the phrase for his appalling overacting on show here. Just as bad is the hopeless Tara Reid, clearly out of her depth and floundering; sadly nobody gives her a lifeline, and by the end the suggestion that we're supposed to empathise with her is, well, just ridiculous.
There are familiar faces lower down the cast list: requisite Japanese guy Yuji Okumoto (ROBOT JOX) as a henchman, and the always-great Danny Trejo as an Indian priest. Even the likes of Macy Gray (annoying) and Dennis Hopper (embarrassed) pop up in the final reel to no avail. The action consists of people being thrown through the air or innocent folk being shot, and apart from a single neck break, all of the violence and bloodshed is kept off screen, no doubt for budget reasons (although it looks like it's been censored more than anything else). The ending is particularly excruciating. The one memorable scene – for all the wrong reasons – sees Danny Trejo's priest performing an ancient Indian dance over the body of a dying bird; it's the one moment that got a genuine chuckle from this viewer.