That the idea for a sequel to "The Crow" couldn't have gone the wayof Brandon Lee is unfortunate. But wherever there's money to be made, you can bet the farm that there's a producer nearby, eager to exploit a stale idea and a dead star in the almighty quest for a quick buck.

Enter French actor Vincent Perez to reprise Lee's role. As Ash, Perez has lost a son and returns to Earth via the power of the Crow to avenge his grief. The character of Sarah is also back, although now played by Mia Kirshner so she can walk around and look sexy -- an angle the producers of the original "Crow" would have jumped on had it not been for the legal ramifications of forcing a fourteen-year-old girl to submit to nude shower scenes.

Everything that happened in the first film happens exactly the same way in the second. There's an evil guy named Judah (Richard Brooks) with a seer who can predict the future. Ash takes out the bad guys one by one and leaves neat little crow imprints all over the place like a dog marking its territory. Sarah is kidnapped, forcing Ash to walk into the waiting hands of Judah. The music is the same; the cinematography is the same. Vincent Perez even looks like Brandon Lee.

However, to be fair, I should point out a couple of differences between Crow 1 and 2. The number of "accidental" stabbings is higher in 2 than in 1 -- and the number of times someone in the audience yelled, "Die, Filmmakers! Die!" was higher during 2 than 1. Oh, and nobody was shot on the set of this film -- though one suspects the filmmakers considered it as a marketing ploy when they actually saw the final product.