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generalized-crowposting · 1 year ago

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The crow: City of angels

Now this movie was actually pretty good. I like the expansions it made to the lore and a few charecter details- other things not so much. I mentioned last night that the things it does well it does really well and the things it does bad? Well? It does bad.

I like that the film does the opposite color palet of the orignal instead of cool colors and shadow it does almost exclusively warm. However that ends up in most of the film being in “mustard wash” as there is very few shots that are without a filter- the first would get breaks from filters and have a regularly colored scenes now and then. I also don’t want to be comparing it to the first movie to much as it is and isn’t a direct sequel. The crow is a title- it’s a state of being and it’s not reserved for one soul. However it is directly tied to the first by the inclusion of Sarah- who will be our first point.

Sarah-

She’s all grown up and the poor girl cannot catch a break. However she did go completely goth. I do like her and what she made of herself, wanting to move out of Detroit only to find herself in a possibly worse city… she works as a tattoo artist and paints on the side. We see the effect Eric and Shelly have left on her, she still has Gabriel and is now old enough to wear the ring- as a ring.. she is even painting them. One of the stills from the first of them on the couch. She’s …. Connected in a way. It’s not explicitly stated but she seems to be a crow herself. Not a wandering soul but more so like the actual bird, a spirit guide. It’s never expressed why or how Ashe is lead to her or she knows/is willing to guide him but it’s clear she had before, she knows much more then she ever would have as a kid. She even has the eyes of the bird, large and staring straight into you with this sympathy and curiousity. Once again used in the same exact way as bait- but she doesn’t seem to get the connection. She also has a odd pseudoromance with Ashe for a second? Both seeming to express feelings- first she pushes him toward what he’s here for then turns around into it? Ultimately nothing happens But I don’t know what that was about.

Freaks, Punks, goths = bad?

This movie is strangely unbelievably horny? I’m not kidding like Jfc. There’s sort of erotic ? Set ups? Like Ashe is writhing on the ground in pain and the way she helps him up and grabs him vice versa (and this happens several times) her getting him ready is also- quite literally strips him etc. Now the bad guys in this movie are straight up a drug king pin who runs a fucking sex cult?? Now it’s all pleasures but most of it is freaky sex shit going on. So much leather and whatever tf else. Every time you go back there it’s something else even wackier shit. which I don’t have a issue with but my issue is that it’s almost stated that every weirdo in town but Sarah is a bad guy? In the first movie it’s more explicitly the gangs and it’s clear who’s who. There’s a line between the good and the bad- Eric is shown to be apart of the clubs and the subcultures by the fact his band frecquently preformed at club trash. However in this one if you dress a bit odd there’s a 90% youre one of the bad guys because they ALL have guns and all attack at moments notice? Idk If it should annoy me as much as it does but it’s hhhhhhh why

Another issue is that this movie lacks the subtlety that the first one had - seriously they’re messaging is sort of shoved down your throat apparent. The villains name is fucking Judah and half the movie they talk about how “no one is listening” etc. There’s this huge sign that says JESUS SAVES but the lights are out so it says US SAVE. Subtle movie. Subtle. There’s also a bit of a martyr/Jesus motif to go on later in the film during this almost torture segment at the end. A lot of religious undertones in this movie.

Ashe-

He’s great. The only problem is at times he doesn’t seem to known where he wants to go with his performance but that’s only minor. So Ashe is a strong enough charecter to stand apart from Eric - even though he was explicitly brought back for the same reason as revenge/justice… he seems less set to it? He spends a lot more time wandering about, talking to priests or Sarah then set on his path. They even seem to set him up to NOT succeed and have the same bittersweet happy ending Eric had.. it seems they changed the idea last minute but it was set up for him to fail. He a wandering/hungry ghost … forever. However he does in the end accomplish the task and get reunited with his son. Which was a really interesting concept as instead of it being romantic love it’s paternal! He and his young son were just- wrong place at the wrong time and ended up paying for it. Quite horribly, being shot and drown off the docks… which there is much more flashbacks to and it’s heartbreaking?

To see this man absolutely begging for the safety of his child- who is quite literally just a boy and it falling on deaf ears is heart wrenching. His face paint is absolutely everything to me. It’s done by Sarah rather than his own hand but it is of such high meaning to both of them. For Sarah you can see it as a semi goodbye/ homage to Eric (she still has his mask to) and for Ashe the paint is quite literally his sons old paints… the lines following his tears and it’s 👌 but as I said before it’s odd? There’s many scenes of him suffering and trying to grapple with the fact he’s here and his sons gone. He dives into the harbor to retrieve him and give him a proper burial which absolutely ripped my heater out and yet… he doesn’t seem as motivated to be reunited? As I said he spends a lot of time wandering. I think this can be attributed to the fact he’s a rather fresh dead man. It hasn’t been a year… it’s been a few days. Nothing sat. Nothing festered and grew. This is all brand new tossed right at him and he’s unsure what to do. It works. I also like the element of “wrong place, wrong time” innocence (both this and the mechanic aspect are taken from the first comic/ Eric so this is one element they take from the og that works in their favor)

Lore-

So there’s some really good expansions to the lore added in this movie and others that are??? Sort of confusing or mixed up espically when you look at how things worked in the first. I’m just going to run though a few

So in this movie the crow symbols just … form by happenstance or some sort of magic rather then Ashe making them himself (which, We see Eric form them himself/far less elaborate). In this some just happen to form like the blood, the marigolds etc

I think they straight up get Dia de los muertos wrong? “Scare away the dead” no? Don’t quote me on this as it’s not my culture, also a bit confusing seeing as Ashe has shown to be Hispanic himself? Accent/slight use of Spanish. Along with living in the city I find it hard to believe he wouldn’t know what it is.

But I do like what the priest said “ some spirits linger here for to long, they become confused. They confuse themselves with the living”

Sarah as usual with her narration but in particular “I believe there’s a place where restless souls wander, burdened by the weight of their own sadness, waiting to set the wrong things right. Only then can they be reunited with those they lost” which is beautiful but also adds much more to the lore itself. That it’s the souls themselves that are keeping them here/from crossing… that their own pain is preventing them from crossing over- the crow, sometimes. Just sometimes… helps them put it to a end and eventually be reunited which I think is extremely interesting. As it expands off the narration from the first.

Now this part was beyond interesting to me , what the seer said about the mass of crows gathering in the sky “ the souls of those who came before Ashe , they are crying out for the people they have lost” which is heartbreaking. Now i think it’s implied the crows are specifically souls who were brought back but failed/were killed(again) before they could rest themselves. So now they do the same for others/giving them a chance. “They have come for him” and I think, Ashe would have joined this crowd if the ending was not changed before hand.

Getting the crows power? This is another wtf moment as it’s implied you can not only take away the power from the soul but also gain it? Which seems sort of counterproductive as a whole as that gives power and all of this to someone who’s unworthy? Someone who’s the very evil they’re out to end? It does good on the “they’ll always be evil in the world” side but not the actual lore of what the crow is. Seriously Judah is on some shit this man is drinking the blood of a supernatural bird.

This movie has its downsides and it’s what the fucks but I ultimately enjoyed it. I liked that we got to see more flashbacks from Ashe especially both when it came to the death scene and beforehand. He’s just a mechanic with a happy little kid 😭. It makes the death scene all the more heartbreaking the more of it’s revealed and It makes the killing all the more justified.

Ashe is a weird bird (pun intended) with all his sorrow and all that he was shown to be a normal man He seems to go almost nuttier then Eric? There’s parts where he’s full on joking and toying around and I want to know what the fuck is going on between him and curve respectibly because one kissed the other before they killed them and vice versa? Ashe also speaks to almost a “I know you besides the fact you killed me” way??? Weird way to find your protagonist is a bicon. Just there was some sort of tension going on and I sound absolutely insane but I promise you I’m not.

Ashe also has one of the best momment’s in the film when it comes to the death of Nemo. There’s a weird as strip place with a pay window, which he sits in, his coat down over his shoulders “do you want me? Baby” which shouldn’t make me laugh half as fucking hard as I did.

No “caw caw. FUCK ! IM DEAD.” Momment however :(

It’s just a weird ass movie with some really good and bad lore.

So I’ve decided I’m going to watch all of them. And apparently there’s one before wicked prayer and I’m going to have to find it… they really don’t want you to know about salvation.

#the crow #the crow city of angels #ashe corven

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