Movie Review: The Raven
The Raven, starring John Cusack as the classic horror author Edgar Allen Poe, is director James McTeigue’s third movie. This time around McTeigue takes slight step in a different direction from his two previous films (V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin), which were largely reliant on action scenes to propel the story forward. While The Raven has its fair share of action, the plot is actually propelled by the story Poe is being forced to write, in serial fashion, as the events unfold.
Confused? Don’t be, the movie is not full of twists and turns, shocking reveals or mind-bending questions. It’s a very straight forward plot: our protagonist (Poe) is forced to document, in great detail, the game of wits a sadistic killer has posed to him. While adding insult (although it could be argued it’s admiration) to injury the killer uses specific details from a number of the author’s stories as clues to taunt and guide him in his quest to find the woman he loves, Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve), whom has been abducted. With the help of Detective Fields (Luke Evans) the two men comb the streets of Baltimore for their perpetually shadowed antagonist and Poe’s stunning object of desire.
Clear cut plots and stock characters are safe ways to present a story but, in this instance, I feel like it hurts the movie. Here we have a very intriguing idea about a killer who carefully treads the line of fandom as he torments Poe, a demon plagued man already, with a distinct and accurate understanding of his stories, as well as presenting actual and detailed recreations of some of the authors most grizzly scenes. In my opinion the antagonist, a true devil of a character, was underused. He never really posed an actual threat to the characters we’re supposed to be invested in. Sure, we see him scurry about a bit, but more often than not we are exposed to the aftermath of his “work.” For me this is a problem because the movie isn’t about the tortured psyche of Poe (a film I’d love to see), this is about an obsessive killer presenting gifts to his object of obsession.
Think about it: the killer spends countless hours and, what I imagine would be a small fortune, bringing Poe’s stories to life, only to be cast away by brief bits of dialogue, “That’s The Masque of the Red Death” or “it’s from The Cask of Amontillado!” C’mon, aren’t you upset when you work hard at something and receive the bare minimum of recognition for it? The only thing weaker than the use of the antagonist is the ending of the film. It’s both perplexing and a bit unsatisfying. It will leave you scratching your head while repeating “Who?” and “Why?”
Despite my issues with the killer and ending, I did enjoy The Raven. I’m a fan of Poe’s stories and I liked seeing some of his famous scenes acted out in practical and terrible ways. It was also fun to watch Cusack play an intellectual smart ass with a powerful taste for spirits. His rants, and the occasional belittling of those he considered “philistines” were very amusing. I feel like The Raven, will be one of those movies where the line of like/dislike will be solid, and the numbers favoring either side will be quite even. The biggest divide, I assume, will fall between fans of Poe’s work and their opinion of its use in the film. My advice, if you decide to go see The Raven, is to take it for what it is, historical fiction meant to entertain and it will do just that.
