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Monday 25 July 2005, by Mad-Hamlet : Greetings I’m afraid Crow fans are going to be in for a dissapoinment. ’Wicked Prayer’, it starts out quite strong but rapidly loses steam. David Boreanaz, who should be well known by now at the very least for excellent villains, is not given much room here. I don’t think it was his fault; what he could do, he did do but the role just didn’t have much. The plot is lacking seriously, the mythology is entirely corrupted (The Crows power does NOT come from love thank you very much), and the fight scenes, aside from the initial murder, are pathetic. Which is a shame really because there was a half hearted effort to make the four bad guys, Famine, Pestilence, War and Death more than just another series of bad guys like T-Bird’s gang, and Curve’s boys or those cops in the underated third movie. They were, from time to time unerved by the violence, but this plot thread was crushed by how easily and half-heartedly they were lured back to evil deeds. The biggest dissapoint was their ends; perhaps it was budget constraints but there was near zero visceral satisfaction. I’m bloodthirsty, sue me. Also a lot of the drama, what little of it was built up, was totally saveged by Danny Tregjo’s native American ’Crow Dance’. Tregjo makes one of the bad-assest mexican bag-guys/evil doers/violence loving vigalentes on screen today. He can even pull off a good priest and a so-so mourning father. What he cannot do, tattoo laden pectorial muscles flopping around like half empty water baloons, is a American Indian cermimonial dance. Not, at least, without my jaw hitting the floor before I follow after holding my ribs in a fit of hysterics. I was incredibly skeptical of Eddie Furlong in the title role but heard good things from the crew on the film and, having seen him in the irony mask, felt my concern ebb. Truth be told he did have a few good moments but his pain was never convincing, not for one. single. second. Acting enraged, pained, tormented is a key part of the Crow’s charater and he just did not have it. He can’t even compare to Vincent Perez’s little tantrum in front of Spider Monkey. Don’t even try to contrast Furlong with Mabius’ first humerous curosity, then growing rage, or God Forbid, Brandon Lee’s near perfect representation of pain. My biggest beef? The lighting. The entire movie was well lit. No darkness, no shadows. Everyone meandered about either in full time sun, or well lit night scenes. And that was a physical representation of this entire film: It wasn’t dark enough. The Crow: Wicked Prayer, easily the weakest of the four. While I say to admit it I think this franchise has gone as far as it can. I remain, as always, Mad-Hamlet Monday 1 August 2005, by Maven : I wasn’t disappointed at all. The only ting I was worried about was how Eddie Furlong could ever convince me. He mimicked the first Crow character quite well.Don’t forget that Eric Draven got to know his pain intimately before he arose from his grave. Jimmy Cuervo didn’t have time to be close to his pain.He acted like a guy who had totally lost a grip and flipped.I liked that Jimmy wasn’t an angel before his death. Eddie paid the role due respect. The reference to this character as an angel in spoken form was for David Boreanaz benefit no doubt. Luc Crash? He acted like a complete sociopath.It was good to see Boreanaz in daylight,and it was good that he didn’t brood for his fans. I’m on the fence about Tara Reid. Pestilence,Famine,War and Byrne acted just like Luc’s lackeys. Trejo is believable too.What is so funny about a ceremonial dance? The actors in this movie have nothing to be ashamed of. It occured to me that the writer had found a balance in what to write where exactly,and don’t all things that screw up happen fast,and find redemption slower? No,I am not disappointed at all. the Maven These comments are an anwser to this article : David Boreanaz - "The Crow 4 : Wicker Player" DVD - Blogcritics.org Review
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