Review of The Raven (2012) by David L — 24 Mar 2013

I think I slightly overhyped this one in my expectations as I was anticipating a bit of Agatha Christie meets 'Seven'. However, I actually received a poorer version of what felt like Johnny Depp's 'From Hell'.

It really had a feel of the Depp and Tim Burton combo about it, except for that it was a little bit lacklustre in far too any parts. Whether the fact I was slightly intoxicated when watching it had anything to do with it, I'm not sure, but I was quite drawn to the concept at the beginning as it executed some signs of a good old fashioned whodunit mystery, with graphic scenes of murder that wouldn't be out of place in the 'Saw' series.

I say it wouldn't be out of place but truth be known is that the pendulum death was a complete and utter rip off of one of the death scenes in 'Saw'. Nevertheless it was good to see but unfortunately the rest of the movie lacked that cutting edge in comparison.

In fact we hardly saw any more deaths, just the dead bodies as the detectives were always too late to keep up with the action. I'd probably appreciate this film more if I had studied, or known anything about Edgar Allen Poe, but as I was viewing this film independently from any book or novel he may have written, I wasn't able to establish any connection between the two.

For me it was a case of a psychopath mimicking the deaths of an authors work of fiction, which only captures the attention of the drunken writer once his lost love has been kidnapped. I was further disappointed that the downward spiral that the film appeared to have taken was concluded with an anticlimactic ending too.

At the point of unmasking the killer, my jaw dropped as I muttered the words "who the hell is that"? Not a great end when you have no idea how the pieces of the jigsaw fitted together, and how the murderer was related to the rest of the cast.

Had he even appeared in the film prior to his unveiling? To me the structure to this film was all wrong as the best bits were at the beginning, with the quality gradually descending into oblivion. At some point I will give this the benefit of the doubt and watch it whilst sober, but certainly from viewing it through Poe's alcoholic eyes, it was all too much of a tragedy.