In The Crow: Salvation, it’s the night of his 21st birthday, and Alex Corvis is on Death Row awaiting his imminent execution. Alex has been found guilty of the brutal murder of his girlfriend, and is set to be electrocuted.
However, Alex is innocent. The real murderer – a man with a distinctive scar – walks free.
But that night, as Alex is sent to the electric chair, the killer makes himself known. Unfortunately for Alex, it’s too late and the switch is thrown, killing him in an instant.
A short while later, as Alex’s body is taken to the prison mortuary, a mysterious crow appears. Suddenly, Alex is revived.
Back amongst the land of the living, Alex flees the prison and goes in search of his girlfriend’s killer. But as Alex soon discovers, his quest for revenge goes beyond one man – there is police corruption at the heart of this tale.
Directed by Bharat Nalluri, The Crow: Salvation stars Eric Mabius, Kirsten Dunst, William Atherton, Walton Goggins, and Fred Ward. The movie is based on the comic book of the same name by James O’Barr, and is the third entry in The Crow movie series.
However, this film is not connected to 1994’s The Crow, nor is it directly tied to The Crow: City of Angels. Instead, this entry is a stand-alone sequel, which requires no prior knowledge of the series’ previous protagonists, Eric Draven or Ashe Corven.
The Crow: Salvation is also the first entry in The Crow movie series not to get a worldwide theatrical release. The film did receive a few select screenings in the US, but the response was so poor any further plans to expand were cancelled and the picture was instead sent direct-to-video.
So, this must mean the movie is total car crash, right? Well, oddly no.
A ‘total car crash’ wouldn’t be accurate. The film is instead a poorly directed misfire, with issues.
It’s fair to say The Crow: Salvation has significant problems, yet it isn’t without merit. For all its flaws, it makes an attempt to do something different from what has come before and it is marginally better than the previous entry.
The biggest problem with The Crow: Salvation is just how cheap it looks. For a film that was intended to play on the big screen it simply doesn’t look good enough.
There’s no flare or creativity on screen. The shots are basic, the sets and locations are limited, and the whole thing looks as if it was filmed on a budget of $87.50.
There’s nothing cinematic on offer at all. This could easily be a low-budget TV movie, or a pilot for a television show.
To make matters worse, lead actor Eric Mabius is miscast as Alex Corvis. Rather than leaning into the subtleties and nuances required for a tortured character, he basically hams it up and delivers some incredibly flat lines.
Although to be fair to Mabius, he’s not the only one struggling with the dialogue. The whole film is filled with ropey performances, even from usually reliable actors.
It’s almost as if parts of the film have been put together with the wrong takes (or possibly the only takes available). That said, some of the dialogue is so clichéd the actors are pretty much hampered from the start.
The other major issue is the film’s length. It’s too long.
A good 20 minutes could easily be shaved off the run time. It wouldn’t necessarily fix the film, but it would speed up the pace a touch, and that could help.
Now, despite all the issues detailed above, this is the point where I make it clear The Crow: Salvation isn’t all bad. Before it loses its way, and gets bogged down in low-quality production values, the film demonstrates potential, especially at the beginning of the picture.
The scenes with Alex on Death Row, as well as the central premise revolving around corrupt cops, is fairly interesting. Sure, the film soon descends into a revenge story, similar to its two predecessors, but there are elements of a crime thriller in here and this makes for a refreshing change.
The movie also has a number of neat touches. One is Alex’s gothic appearance, which is explained away as a result of the electrocution, while another is the ending, which I won’t spoil here but is a macabre little moment which calls back to an earlier scene in the picture.
Alex’s lawyer/confident friend in the movie, Peter Walsh, as played by Grant Shaud, is also a great addition. His interactions with Alex help to give the film some depth.
So, yeah, not all bad really. The film certainly demonstrates potential, it’s just a shame a great deal of it gets lost amongst the uninspired direction.
In the hands of a different director, with more money and various tweaks to the script, The Crow: Salvation could be a great movie. It certainly sets off on the right foot and demonstrates possibilities, but sadly it becomes overwhelmed by its many issues.
However, the film deserves recognition for its efforts to distance itself from what came before. More importantly, it’s not sleep-inducing like The Crow: City of Angels, and it’s not awful like The Crow: Wicked Prayer.
So, the best of the sequels then? Yes, but the bar is fairly low, so make of it what you will. Either way, should you wish to watch The Crow: Salvation, the movie is available on Blu-ray and digital.
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