The Raven

A merging of the life of Edgar Allan Poe, his poetry, the crimes of his stories and a woven, fictional tale of all of the above is "The Raven". In the opening minute, I was ready to knock the film down for missing some of the significant details of The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Except this film isn't trying to faithfully recreate anything, you just have to get interested in a Poe-based detective story.

Yes, it is fairly gruesome. Perhaps more blood and violence than you would typically find in a Poe story, but as the newspaper editor insisted, that's what the people want. That's likely true, but what I like about Edgar Allan Poe's writing is the intelligence, prose and soulfulness that would be hiding amongst all the murderers and dead bodies. Most stories can be deduced to be about something entirely other than just the crimes. That wasn't really the case here, but that's hardly the fault of the film as they are different mediums.

They might not have gotten the underlying meaning, but they did the get the true nature of Poe accurate. His gloomy, brooding obsession with death, women and alcohol. I've always been convinced of John Cusack's aptitude for this role, and contrary to popular belief, he was very good. He was more subdued than most people were probably expecting. No action stunts and no over-the-top dramatics, he just showed how words and his propensity for gin would haunt him. He delivered only a few quick lines of wit, and I'm assuming that was the issue people had. From all that I have read from people wanting Robert Downey, Jr in this role, I'm assuming they have confused the fictional character of Sherlock Holmes with the real-life writer of Poe. All that I can say to that is thank God Cusack never got confused.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has credited Poe as inspiration for the creation of his famous detective. I'm afraid the filmmakers have tried to re-pay the favour and took some action cues from the recent movies. Watching bullets fly through the air really takes away from the few things they did so well.

"The Raven" is a good watch for Poe fans with references to many of his stories and poems and they found great moments to include some of his illustrious and lasting lines. Although I would have liked it more if the movie was just a dramatic recreation of his famous poem, at least Cusack did offer a reading of The Raven which probably mirrored that of Poe himself.

A killer is on the loose, a young detective joins forces with Edgar Allan Poe to stop his writings becoming reality. The stakes become high when Poe's partner is kidnapped and her life hangs in the balance.

Set in Baltimore, an underrated thriller mystery that needn't be compared to other period pieces including the likes of Sherlock Holmes (2009). This has its own legs and is more of a murder thriller than adventure. James McTeigue captures the ominous 1849 setting with dark and foggy cobbled streets reminiscent in tone of a Hammer films and Jack the Ripper tale - In Hell (2001). The setting and locations create a eerie backdrop, complimentary of Danny Ruhlmann's cinematography. There's no doubt, Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare's screenplay unfolds like a period piece CBS CSI special but it's a well filmed, entertaining and intriguing, strengthened by McTeigue's direction and Lucas Vidal's score.

Brendan Gleeson's acting abilities are very much underused as Captain Hamilton has he has very little screen time. Luke Evans' Detective Fields commands an on screen presence equal to that of the late Heath ledger. John Cusack gives his usual solid show, albeit he is more animated than usual as Edgar Allan Poe. Alice Eve is excellent, giving a convincing harrowing performance as the kidnapped and trapped Emily Hamilton.

Anyone familiar with the genre may see the killers identity well in advance. Nevertheless, The Raven is a creepy, solid old-school thriller with a fitting portrayal by Cusack.

The plot has several good moments and logically explained events, but, in general, is rather uneven, with some protracted scenes not providing additional value to the movie. Luckily, there is more crimes and less mystery, no voices in the forest or inside heads or so (personally, I do not find it thrilling to follow someone's going or being mad). As for the cast, John Cusack + British actors give pleasant performances; well, males mostly, I did not like female characters too much. Anyhow, the movie does not become boring and the ending has several layers as well, although you could guess the fate of Edgar Allan Poe.

Additional points as I did not guess who the guilty one was.

I really wanted to like this film, I really did. Something was off, though. Was it the script? Perhaps, although I can't find a clear fault in it. Some of the sophistication of the crimes and of the investigative methods were clearly out of the era, but overall it was OK. The production values were good, the direction was good, the acting was good. The atmosphere was dark and claustrophobic as in Poe's writing. Yet, I didn't quite find the enjoyment I was looking for.

The only thing I can think off was John Cusack. He and Alice Eve had no chemistry (and how can you not have it with Alice Eve?!) and the thing I had most trouble believing were not the way the criminal always barely escapes, not the story or the era or the feel of the movie, but that Cusack's character had any feelings at all. He seemed apathetic and occasionally angry. That was it. And that made the film, a good film overall, not be better than average.

Well, not much to say about this movie really. It's not bad but it's definitely nothing memorable or impressive to watch either. It's all being good and entertaining enough to keep watching but by the end of it you won't feel like you got an awful lot out of the movie.

I think that the biggest problem of the movie is that it's being a very straightforward mystery/thriller, which at the same time also makes it a very standard and formulaic one. Normally I would complain when a movie has too many distractions in it but in this case it most likely wouldn't had harmed this movie. Some more character, or some more different story lines would had perhaps made this movie a more interesting one.

The movie now becomes a bit tiresome after a while. There is not enough variation and the movie just never really manages to become a tense one, with any of its mystery or thriller elements. Who knows, maybe it also was the movie its low budget that prevented it from ever making a real impact and the reason why the movie seems to be lacking the right required type of atmosphere.

A problem of the movie also lies with its main character. No, I'm not saying that John Cusack is a poor actor in this movie but his character simply isn't being a good or interesting enough. There was so much they could had done, after all he plays Edgar Allan Poe in this movie but it feels as if the film-makers were holding back with just about everything and decided to play things safe, making this a very standard and therefore also predictable little movie.

No it's not a horrible movie to watch but just a movie that offers far too little to its viewers.

6/10

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