The Crow: City of Angels Reviews

It isn't easy being the sequel to the lushly morbid THE CROW, but it's even tougher being the remake pretending to be the sequel. On the plus side: aging rockers Ian Dury and Iggy Pop as, respectively, a gruff tattoo artist and a scrawny, sociopathic incubus; production design that relies heavily on Dia de los Muertos tchotchkes; fashionable S&M gear and objets that appear to have been ordered wholesale from Cher's Sanctuary catalog; and amber-tinted cinematography that makes the whole thing look like a mellow nightmare. On the minus side: just about everything else. Star Vincent Perez, taking over the role originated by the late Brandon Lee, bears an uncanny resemblance to The Cure's Robert Smith, which might be because director Tim Pope's credits include dozens of Cure music videos. The story is exactly the same as THE CROW's, with the critical difference that unquiet spirit Ashe (Perez) has returned to wreak vengeance for the murder of his small son, not his lover. Memo to Edward R. Pressman: Gloomy Goth teens like the Romeo and Juliet stuff, not parental devotion from beyond the grave.