Review of THE CROW - SALVATION

THE CROW-SALVATION

released  2000, revenge, fantasy, supernatural, police corruption
 

 ALEX CORVIS (Eric Mabius), has been falsely convicted of brutally murdering his girlfriend, LAUREN RANDALL. He spends his last hour playing chess with a friend while a guard berates him for not having his lawyer harangue the governor. People outside the prison are calling for his death, Lauren's family hopes they'll get closure, and a CROW flies over the prison. The guards walk Alex to the execution room, and strap him in the electric chair. He proclaims his love for Lauren and his innocence, the guards attach a metal mask to his face, and the executioner throws the switch. But there is a lightning flash on the jail, and Alex convulses for a long time before his head slumps over.

Wheeling the corpse away, guards comment on how his face was messed up from the electrical burns. But when they leave him in a room, he moves a finger, then sits up. His face heals, though with facial scars like K.I.S.S. makeup. The crow leads him out of the prison and to the police evidence room where he discovers that specific corrupt cops were responsible both for his being framed and for Lauren's murder. Then it's just a matter of tracking down those cops one by one, letting them scream in horror at seeing him back from the dead, and then killing them violently. Each one up the line sees the one beneath get his due and knows what is coming. But the head bad-guy presents a special challenge...

This is the third movie in the series. The plots are almost identical--a man and someone he loves is unjustly killed, he is resurrected, and, with the aid of a crow, gets revenge on his enemies. This one is probably the best because you feel the most sympathy for the guy before he dies, and so exult with satisfaction when he wastes the malefactors.  

Alex's last name, Corvis, means 'crows' in Latin. That's the most subtle part of the film. Plotholes abound and the characters are all two dimensional. The movie is almost entirely made up of one scene of outraged vengeance after another. There is no instructive message or spiritual insight. But it's a great movie for working out. I give it +++++. It will get your pulse up to a sprint. The other Crow movies are also worthwhile for working out, but after a while the repetition gets tiresome.