Review of The Raven (2012) by Thomas K — 14 Mar 2013

Generally one should trust film reviews that are objective and based in fact and evidence. Reviews steeped in personal opinion and preconceived prejudices lend themselves easily to criticism and are often declarations of emotion rather than solid argument. As a rule, I try to be objective.

Of course, rules are meant to be broken. How else can we account for "The Raven?".

A quick tangent: I go to the University Edgar Allan Poe attended and I can tell you, from first hand experience, how much the University cherishes his time spent in Charlottesville before he dropped out. We have T-Shirts with his picture that are captioned "Dropout," and his room on the lawn is preserved as it (supposedly) was during his time as a student.

Studying English there, as I do, I have learned an entire semester's worth of information on Poe just by tangential diatribes from my professor's. I found it interesting, then, when every one of my professors advised his students to stay away from "The Raven." "Don't watch it," they said, "it's sacrilege.".

In Charlottesville they take their alumnus seriously.

I tried my best to go into this film with an open mind, willing to accept the absurdist fiction sure to be thrown into my face. And so I did.

The film attempts to blur the lines between truth and fiction. It's the only way they could present the audience with an interpretation of Poe's death while completely stomping on his memory.

I won't go into the numerous historical inaccuracies. It's not a historical drama; it's highly fictious.

It's an interesting concept, though. A Poe who is called upon to consult for the police as they chase a killer who is seemingly inspired by Poe's stories (I kept track for you: "Tell-Tale Heart," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Mystery of Marie Roget," "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," "The Cask of Amontillado") gives the story a "National Treasure-ey" vibe. The kicker? The killer captures Poe's fiancé, giving Poe a stake in the killer's capture. It's meant to be a movie hidden in the guise of a Poe short-story, but all it ends up being is a reminder that Edgar Allan Poe wrote a ton of short-stories.

The film, sadly, does not live up to its premise.

It's called "The Raven," because, of course, any movie that depicts Edgar Allen Poe must make an allusion to his best-known story (that's the "Tell-Tale Heart" for you math nerds). And, of course, Poe is going to quote excessively from his short-stories. As if creating authentic Poe dialogue was beyond what a Wikipedia search can produce.

The film doesn't know what it wants to be. It's a fictional reality, to be sure. But it's also based heavily in the Poe legend, and instead of creating a macabre mystery out of the pages of a Poe collection; the film is more of a formulaic hack job.

Is it ironic that one of the writers of the film has the last name "Shakespeare?" Is she tired of hearing that joke about her work? Regardless, for a film that depicts one of America's most respected writers, the film was poorly written. I seriously question the amount of research that went into crafting this script, which-for a history film-really says it all.

The writing is terrible, and the plot is more formulaic than a calculus test, but what ultimately buries this film is the acting. Simply stated, John Cusack is the worst. He lives his life as if it were still the 80's, when he was still a relevant actor in the Hollywood system. This role feels desperate, as if playing Edgar Allan Poe in a decent-to-terrible movie would reinvigorate his career (but not at all). The female lead, and Poe's fiancé, Alice Eve may not be a terrible actor, it's just that she has shown her audience's no reason to think otherwise. She looks unnatural in front of a camera, like she knows she is on camera and doesn't know how to compose herself. My biggest issue with her-and it's going to sound shallow-is the way she holds her mouth open. It's a wonder flies don't flock to the accessible warmth. Other than her physical attractiveness I don't see a reason she should ever be in movies.

Overall, I found the film to be unnecessary. There is enough unused material in Poe's cannon to create a great film. "The Raven" was an attempt to take too much of Poe and yet leave much to be desired.

The filmmakers took Edgar Allan Poe and made him uninteresting. As if neutering the legend of an artist is something that people would find appealing.

Early in the movie Poe promises to his patrons a drink to any man who can finish his quote from "The Tell-Tale Heart":

"Quoth the Raven," he provides.

"Piss off," they say.

Sounds about right.