The Crow: Salvation Re-issue DVD
Sound and Visual Quality
As with the previous two movies, "The Crow: Salvation" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound & DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound and Widescreen 1.85:1 or full screen Enhanced 16x9.
DVD Features
Commentary Track
Commentary is presented by Baharat Nalluri (director), Eric Mabius (lead actor), Jeff Most (producer), Marco Beltrami (composer) and Maia Javan (production design). Compared to the previous commentary tracks for "The Crow" and "COA", this is by far the best commentary of the three movies. This is mainly because all of the principle parties are present for the commentary. A full range perspective is given, which was missing from the previous movies' commentaries.
"Making Of" Featurette
Baharat Nalluri, Jeff Most, James O'Barr, Tim Dekey (Toomey), Eric Mabius, Kirsten Dunst and Walton Goggins (Roberts) contribute personal thoughts. The feature is only 8 minutes long, the shortest and least informative of all three movie "behind the scene" featurettes. James O'Barr makes many positive remarks about Salvation (This is the interview that was transcribed in full for the Image Crow comic #8 last year). One fun addition is video footage from the DragonCon 2000 convention. There is footage of James O'Barr signing autographs and a quick glimpse of fans standing in line. It would have been nice to see a little more of this footage as there was quite a bit shot during the convention weekend. Only a small amount of it is shown here.
Behind the Makeup
This features Jeff Most, Eric Mabius and Alex Diaz (makeup artist) detailing the whole process of Eric's makeup application. At only 2 minutes, this feature could very well have been incorporated into the "making of" segment since it is so short and needed more substance.
Who's That Bird
Fans get to see behind the scenes and file footage shots from all three Crow movies. Larry Payne, bird trainer, discusses how the birds were trained for the movies. Magic is prominently featured with Larry throughout the segment (He is the lead Raven that has appeared in all three movies). It is interesting to note how intelligent these birds are. They are very much like dogs in their response to commands and praise. The scene in "Salvation" where we see the Raven play dead and then recover is an actual trick that was taught to the Raven. During a segment detailing how the birds worked with the lead actors, we get to see the Ashe/Kali fight from COA being shot in its original incarnation. In fact, most of the footage showing the birds interacting with the actors is from COA. This feature has a run time of over 8 minutes.
Production Stills
This feature is 2 ½ minutes long. The production stills are predominately from pre and post-production. It highlights the fact that this movie was grounded more in a small town atmosphere rather than the exaggerated society depicted in the pervious movies.
DVD Rom Features
Script Viewer
As with the first two Crow DVDs, we are able to read the script while also watching the film. It is interesting to note that compared to the first two films, the final cut of Salvation was very close to the script.
Overall Rating
I have rated this DVD 7 crows out of 10. This DVD lacks the content that the other two Crow DVDs have. I was disappointed in the brevity of most of the features. There could have been a lot more detail put into the "making of" feature. Miramax missed a great opportunity by opting not to put more of the DragonCon 2000 video on the DVD. They did a lot of fan interviews during the convention, as well as attending the special midnight screenings, yet none of that footage made it on the DVD. It would have been a nice homage to the fans.
