The Crow: City of Angels / The Crow: Wicked Prayer (1996 - 2005) Sept 11 Pre-order

[Sky_Captain]

Seems that they re-purposed the transfer that we got in the UK, in the pack with Salvation. Congrats, guys.

[SwaggerJagger]

Now I really have to go to Wal*Mart.
I need to pick up this & the wes craven double.

[ninfan81]

Originally Posted by Ned Schneebly

the combo pack?

Yes sir. The combo pack has City of Angels in 1080P, 5.1 HD audio and it's the director's cut. It's basically what the first release should have been. Plus you get the terrible 4th Crow movie as what I will call a very "special" feature

[Ned Schneebly]

thanks for the info I'm actually going to order it now. How would you personally rate the PQ?

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by ninfan81

It's in 1080P now and it's the longer cut. This is the release to get it seems.

how long

[Sky_Captain]

It should run around 91 mins.

[ninfan81]

It runs for 90:44 to be exact. The PQ is OK at best. It's got some signs of softness and some digital tinkering, but it's not a total DNR fest either. It's a tick better than the old release IMO. It's also framed in 1.85:1 now.

Edit: My mistake the original release was also 1.85:1....just labeled incorrectly on the artwork.

[wormraper]

crap, my brain registered wicked prayer as the one with Kirsten dunst, not the aweful aweful 4th one with Edward Furlong. ah well, at least Crow City of Angels is good

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by wormraper

crap, my brain registered wicked prayer as the one with Kirsten dunst, not the aweful aweful 4th one with Edward Furlong. ah well, at least Crow City of Angels is good

I've always liked the first, even if alot didn't. The third one was all right aswell. Only ever saw the 4th once.

I might trade/sell my copy of the second one, if i can get the double pack.

[Forever Knight]

Got my copy coming. Already owned CoA but I wanted Wicked Prayer since I'm a big Crow fan and even though the movie itself was meh.

[Devilutionary]

Originally Posted by ninfan81

It runs for 90:44 to be exact. The PQ is OK at best. It's got some signs of softness and some digital tinkering, but it's not a total DNR fest either. It's a tick better than the old release IMO. It's also framed in 1.85:1 now.

Edit: My mistake the original release was also 1.85:1....just labeled incorrectly on the artwork.

seriously...this is the same one that's on the directors cut dvd from miramax?

[OrlandoEastwood]

Originally Posted by Devilutionary

seriously...this is the same one that's on the directors cut dvd from miramax?

The stand alone Blu-ray is a hacked up version of the director's cut. I did some comparisons from looking at the German version of Movie Censorship and a DVD copy of the film. So, it was edited down to possibly match the theatrical cut, but it wasn't the theatrical cut of the film. Supposedly, there's a long ass version of the film that's in a vault somewhere.

[UniSol GR77]

I was a big City of Angels nuts !!!! I still own the "Making of" book and the novelization. This movie had been slaughtered by the producers. Can you please tell me what butchered scenes they re-inserted in the Director's Cut?

[UniSol GR77]

Found this:

http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1302

[OrlandoEastwood]

Just wrote a review. I forgot how much I loathe The Crow: Wicked Prayer. I got my copy on the 20th of September and I would have gotten the review done sooner, but, my God!

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-C...Blu-ray/49028/

"The Crow: City of Angels" (1996)

I have reviewed the original Blu-ray release in 2011 when it was part of the initial roll out of Miramax titles at Echo Bridge. I gave that Blu-ray an overall 2.5/5; it contained a 1080i video presentation along with DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio and no bonus material at all. How does The Crow: City of Angels compare in this double feature? Well, it is the 91 minute "Director's Cut" of the film.

The story centers around father who, along with his child, is killed by a gang of drug dealers. A year later, he is brought back to life by a crow to take revenge upon the people who wronged him. The film is a true sequel to first film as the character Sara, played by Mia Kirshner, is back guiding Ashe on his journey of revenge. In my opinion, I prefer The Crow: City of Angels over the first film with Brandon Lee; the whole coming back premise seems to work better with a father than a boyfriend avenging the death of his soon to be wife. The film is not perfect at all and the only thing that helps this is the casting. Vincent Perez as the lead and Iggy Bop and an unknown Thomas Jane as some of the villains made for a fun ninety minutes of time. Movie gets a 4/5.

Video: 4/5
After going back and forth and checking both discs, the director's cut on this disc is presented in 1.85:1 MPEG-4 AVC in 1080p; whereas the "theatrical cut" release was 1080i. These two transfers are night and day, however this new transfer is not perfect, it's far from it. While playing the original on my PS3, I noticed how rough the playback was compared to the new release. Even though this new transfer is 1080p, there is three instances of interlacing that I caught. Some slight spoliers, a flashback scene has one second at the 19 minute mart. Towards the end when the birds are flying around Ashe. And then once more when Ashe says he's going to "A better place." Other than that, the print is riddled with print damage, but it's not that bad. This is the best it will get until there is a full blown frame by frame restoration. Do I feel that I am being generous with this rating? Yes; considering the last release, this is much better. 4/5.

Audio: 5/5
Presented on this disc is two audio tracks; 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA. There's no real complaints on the audio. Why they decided to put a 2.0 track along with the 5.1 makes no real sense to me. It's unwanted space hogging data. But, hearing the SFX and cawing of the crows, it's really good. 5/5.

Extras: 2.5/5
Echo Bridge is starting to venture out into putting more extras on their Miramax releases. However, they put a piece of bonus material on the disc for the wrong film. There is a twenty minute interview with Brandon Lee. If this were the first film, I wouldn't have a problem with this. Then finally, a seven minute featurette with screenwriter David Goyer discussing how they tackled the sequel. Other people from the film pop up like Mia Kirshner and Tim Pope. I give the extras a 2.5/5.

Overall: 4/5
Echo Bridge should have gave us this the first time around. It seems it's more trial and error than just quality control. Now, it would have been nice if they put both the 86 minute theatrical cut and the 91 minute director's cut on the initial disc, in 1080p. If you want to get The Crow: City of Angels, this double feature is the copy to get. I paid $10 online for my copy; I know Wal-Mart had copies of this for $5 and sadly the Wal-Mart in my area never freakin' carries new releases. I give this portion of the disc a 4/5.

"The Crow: Wicked Prayer" (2005)

This film is a farce. Mostly whenever a series hits the fourth entry, it's downhill. Seeing a film with a cast like this, you can't possibly think this is going to be a bad film. We have Danny Trejo, Dennis Hopper, and David Boreanaz; on top of that Tito Ortiz, Tara Reid, and Edward Furlung as the hero! There are so many other actors who could have possibly played this lead; hell David Boreanaz should have been the lead. That would have been a much interesting take on the character, but, no. We have this abomination that's kinda like The Crow: Salvation which is essentially just a remake of the first film starring Brandon Lee. Seriously, boyfriend and girlfriend die and boyfriend is brought back to life to seek revenge. That's it. Except, this time, we have the four losers of the apocalypse who think that they can bring hell on Earth.

The acting is atrocious; who honestly thought that this line up of "actors" like Tito Ortiz and Edward Furlung would make a good combination? Edward Furlung looks like an emo teenage girl who went shopping at a Hot Topic; that whole get up screams Hot Topic. I hope people got fired over this film, I know it's wrong, but have you seen this film? It makes me angry just thinking about who honestly thought this was a good idea to make. Film scores a .5/5.

Video: 4/5
Echo Bridge has given The Crow: Wicked Prayer almost a perfect transfer. It's always strange to see a bad film get a good transfer. Presented in 1.78 with an MPEG4 AVC transfer; there is print damage here and there and a shot or two that look a little too soft. But, upon watching the commentary, some of these soft looking shots were explained, so I cannot really point that out as Echo Bridge's fault. Grain is mostly present throughout. Other than what I mentioned, there's no real complaints; video gets a 4/5.

Audio: 5/5
The film has two audio tracks present; a DTS-HD MA 2.0 & 5.1 tracks. Upon sampling the two tracks, the 2.0 track sounds loud. Voices and effects have a boost to them and the 5.1 track sounds weak in comparison. I don't know why that is. Usually the 5.1 is the track of choice, but if you watch this, give it a spin in the DTS-HD MA 2.0. Audio gets a 5/5.

Extras: 1/5
The extra features in this portion of the disc contains two deleted scenes; a discussion called "El Pinto"; watching the composer work in "Jaime's Attic"; and finally a commentary track. Commentary is nothing but ramblings and pointing out faults; again, this whole film is a farce! The extras are lame for a farce of a film like this. If this was like the second film and it had bonus material like this, I wouldn't find it to be so bad. None of this is worth your time. Extras score a 1/5.

Overall: 2.5/5
A bad film gets a good transfer. That seems to be all the rage these days. With this and Piranha 3DD, I don't get it. It's also a shame that Echo Bridge didn't get the rights to the third film, The Crow: Salvation. The whole Lionsgate taking first grabs at titles; they picked some of the crappy-girly romance stuff like Bridget Jones and the Mimic sequels over From Dusk Till Dawn; Hellraiser; and Halloween films. They take The Crow and The Crow: Salvation yet say; "Screw the second film, we want the first and third!" And now this is the result of that choice; City of Angels on a double feature Blu-ray with Wicked Prayer.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5
Rounding up the initial votes:

Film: 4 + .5 = 4.5/2 = 2.25. I'll round to 2.5/5.
Video: 4/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 2.5 + 1 = 3.5/2 = 1.75. I'll round that to 2/5.

Those added up and divided equals 3.375/5 which I will round to 3.5. If you don't own the initial release of The Crow: City of Angels, this is the copy to get. The Crow: Wicked Prayer is a POS film and is honestly not worth your time viewing. Despite that, I felt like this was $10 well spent. 3.5/5.

[Forever Knight]

Getting my copy in the mail soon. Is there any PQ difference between City of Angels on this release compared to the single City of Angels release?.

[shovelware69]

The post above yours goes into it.

[Morsoth]

I missed that post in October... Thanks OrlandoEastwood for that great review, I ordered my copy!

[Forever Knight]

Originally Posted by shovelware69

The post above yours goes into it.

Doh!

Thanks.

[Forever Knight]

PQ for Wicked Prayer is pretty good. The film itself is nowhere near as awesome as the original which was expected. Good to see John Connor, the slut from American Pie, and Angel together.