The Raven

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.

A wonderful, macabre film, a la Shakespeare In Love, could be made from Edgar Allan Poe's work and life. The Raven, which uses his work in a serial killer investigation film, ain't it. The basic idea is modestly clever: a serial killer in 1849 Baltimore is murdering people using scenarios from Poe's stories. A police detective recognizes the pattern and pulls in the writer to help in the investigation. Not a bad idea had it been developed in an intelligent or witty way, like Time After Time or Shakespeare In Love. Instead it becomes a random hash of "clues" that have no consistent sense. Cusack, though he looks much healthier and in better shape than he has in years, is miscast as Poe. Although Poe as written: a horse-galloping, Colt .45 wielding hero, would be hard to play for anyone. (At the stage of his life depicted in the film Poe was in fact a deathly ill alcoholic in his last days.)Luke Evans, who plays the police detective Fields, is a ruggedly attractive void on the screen; Alice Eve as Poe's lover is bountifully beautiful and also a void; Brendan Gleeson plays her disapproving father as...very disapproving. Stick around for the end credits, though. They seem to arrive from a different film altogether and I swear that's Willie Nelson singing over a Nine Inch Nails musical backing. Very odd but it will help lift you out of your chair and the theater itself.

Great and interesting concept but a little below my expectations. I admire Poe's writing and biography yet this film did not abide by it. Edgar Allan Poe( who suffered loss of loved ones, loneliness and depression)did not reflect completely on John Cusack's interpretation of the role. In the film The character was half drunk, did criticized but there was a "humorous vibe" that threw me off pertaining to the Horror and thriller genre and Poe's personality. There was no moment in the film where the tormented, bipolar and dark Poe appeared. Also the movie did not make me think in the sense that every time they found a crime the film immediately pointed out the story or poem, as a matter of fact it only took the first crime for the Detective to figure out that the murder was a reenactment of Poe's story, but according to the film itself Poe was not famous or even recognized. I did enjoy the relationship between Poe and Fields, It was interesting in the sense of the change from suspect to friend, from untrusted to relying on each other.Also the art direction and Costume design. The ball where "The mask of the red Death" was depicted was impressive and very detailed as well as Poe's town and the killers "lair." The movie is visually striking, emulating historical costumes and setting, but the story lack consistency. It was a wonderful and thoughtful ending to a defective and lacking plot due to failures in character developments ( not counting detective fields). Like previous reviews on this film I would compare it to Sherlock Holmes, but I would of rather it parallel with Se7en directed by David Fincher, it had the potential.

What was the thing about the noise in this movie? --SOME Spoilers might be included--- Almost every character screamed senselessly at least once. So much noise for no reason. Were was the suspense or the climax in that? Just cheap tricks to make you...well...scared? I'd say bored. The crime scenes were utterly disgusting or laughing stock even at times. The plot was lacking gusto. Too clichéd. As for the acting, it was the real horror in this film. Except for Cusack sometimes.. everyone else was lukewarm, or truly non-believable. Poe's fiancée was totally irrelevant. The detective...exaggerating it. Poe must be swearing in his grave LOUDLY about this! Do such film creators have NO mercy for literature? or US?

It's a 6 for me. If you are going to make a fictional movie about a real character I think you should really just go for it, make it original, and use some imagination. Edgar Allen Poe seems like a great character to use as inspiration for a very dark, evil, twisted movie. This wasn't one of those. Cusack as Poe, was OK, not great, not horrible but just OK. The story is one I have seen a few times before. The whole author writes something, serial killer uses it as a blueprint, suddenly the writer is called in and that was the killers plan all along and it becomes personal. Yawn. There was so much potential for this movie, and they turned it in to a played out old story line. It wasn't bad. After the first ten minutes I figured the rest was going to be a torture to watch. It did get somewhat better, but never rose above OK.

WOW! A thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery thriller with some true story facts to act as a real hook! At the very least, it's a fantastic story, the acting is brilliant (good to see Alice Eve and John Kusack in action, but many other brilliantly portrayed roles in addition to them). The cinematography made for an engrossing film that you will definitely enjoy. The pace makes for 2 hours of something engaging and gripping. There's plenty in it to make you jump but it's not gratuitous and adds to the fabulous dark atmosphere that has been brought to us by the same director as V for Vendetta. If you're tired of the constant comic book based films or needing something with more depth than Jason Statham's acting, this film will help fill the void. Go see it.

The black raven of boredom devoured my bitter brain with the fickle flicker of each passing frame. He paused every now and then in between a burp and a bite to remind me that this film's folly was to be blinded by the madness of the night where the dull destiny of dreariness consumed every painted pixel of deadly distortion and the illumination of reason was abandoned in a passionless puddle of great proportion. Alas, when the closing credits finally rolled in response to my prayers to the good Lord above who also resides as a gift to the mind deep within, I began to feel my empty skull slowly heal with the rapid exit of this foul-smelling memory of witnessing this sinister cinematic sin. And as I cast my eyes over to the lifeless bones of the black raven who died with his clutching claws desperately targeting the rewind button on the dusty remote, I suddenly discovered a tiny handwritten note which had been tied tightly around his faint and feeble throat. It read as follows: "To whomever survives this torturous agony of melancholious monotony concealed within less than five evil gigabytes of diabolically conceived insanity, do not forget to warn others of this wicked curse in the hopes they might avoid this treacherous calamity thrust upon the silly stage of Poe-profanity as a small stain trying to soil forever the sweet innocence of divinely evolving humanity."

Not being a big fan of John Cussack I did not expect much from this film... From his feminine voice to his soft features but boy was I pleasantly surprised! The Director did a cracking job of ramping up the suspense and still be able to tease, shock AND surprise even seasoned cinema goers as me. Lots of gore, lots of dare and the entire film was shot beautifully and i think the period was captured superbly too. It was nearly a master piece but just missed out on this accolade by shoddy closure. 5 minutes shorter and it would have been a modern day classic. I would give it a robust 7.8. Definitely go see it.

I'm not sure where all the good reviews are coming from, this was an incredibly boring movie despite the gore. Let's face it, if you've seen the recent sherlock holmes movies, this should be very familiar(they've even taken stock footage from those movies). The only difference is that the fact the detective character is a poet, and the killer is killing the same way as Poe's books and kidnapped his beloved, an extremely contrived way to get him to follow up on the case. The real detective is useless, who serves no purpose other than to ask Holmes, sorry, Poe for help.

If only Vincent Price were still alive. Perhaps the legendary Price, himself a fan of Edgar Allan Poe, and who starred in many adaptations of Poe's stories, could have brought the necessary combination of grand passion, inner turmoil, and sly wit to The Raven that it needed to succeed. But Price is of course long gone, and so we must make do with John Cusack. And it just doesn't work. The Raven is based upon a great premise: in 19th-century Baltimore, a sadistic killer is on the loose, his murders based on the stories of the infamous poet and purveyor of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe, penniless and drunk most of the time, is at first a suspect in the murders, but Detective Fields (Luke Evans) realizes that however otherwise dissolute Poe may be, he is not a murderer, and so enlists the writer's aid in cracking the case. The stakes are raised, however, when Poe's own fiancé, Emily (Alice Eve) is kidnapped. Can Fields and Poe solve the mystery of the murderer's identity in time to save Emily's life, or will Poe be undone by the very fruits of his own grisly imagination? Again, it's a great premise. Poe is one of the greatest horror writers of all time, and a thriller based upon his lurid tales of madness and death has a lot of potential. Sadly, The Raven—which takes its title from perhaps Poe's most famous poem—never realizes its lofty ambitions. The aforementioned John Cusack is the first problem the film is saddled with, for while Cusack is a capable actor the complexities of playing the troubled, rather enigmatic Edgar Allan Poe prove totally beyond him. Cusack never makes his version of Poe likable, or even interesting, and in many ways Evans's much more ably realized Detective Fields is the real star of the show. Alice Eve's lovely and charming performance as Emily goes for naught, as her character doesn't have enough to do and is so underwritten that she lacks any real personality. The Raven does look good, and there are many appealing shots of fog-shrouded streets and dark forests. But the atmosphere is wasted, and the elements of Poe's stories which make it into the script are misused. Familiar Poe stories like The Pit and the Pendulum and The Murders in the Rue Morgue are used for a few gory set pieces that are merely insults to the original tales which inspire them. Suspense is diluted by the inability of the director, John McTeigue, to decide what kind of movie he really wants to make: a mystery? A thriller? A horror-comedy? The Raven isn't solidly any of these things, and so it becomes terribly boring by default. If you really want a good movie inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, there are a few of them out there, including at least two likewise called The Raven: one starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff , and the other featuring Vincent Price and, again, Boris Karloff. Though both films have entirely different stories to tell, they are also both superior to the new movie in every way. Poe himself was a merciless critic. Were he alive today, I think his own review of The Raven would make mine look glowing by comparison.