Review of The Raven (2012) by Manny C — 09 Oct 2012

The Raven is undoubtedly promising but disappointing. It's got a killer premise: suppose Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) spent his final years trying to find a killer whose murders are inspired by Poe's works, stories such as The Pit and The Pendulum. It's good, if not a bit gimmicky, but thank goodness John Cusack is around as Poe, playing him with a killer mix of mirth, doubt and romantic yearning.

Director James McTeigue (he of the amazing V For Vendetta), does a nifty job of creating compelling atmosphere. Just a few days before his death Poe was spotted on a park bench in his native Baltimore, ranting and raving incoherently. Supposedly Poe was done in by boozing and syphilis, but the script by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare throws in the idea that he was poisoned by a maniacal fan obsessed with him.

And so we get lame flashbacks and an even lamer fictional story about Poe's heiress fiancee, Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve), who is interred alive a la The Premature Burial, prompting Poe to work to help police detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) find her before she meets her end.

None of it sticks. The most compelling parts involving Poe are scenes that show him as a struggling poet, desperate to make money by writing, and essentially creating, detective fiction, while also savagely criticizing others' work. There's a great scene where Poe bets that at least one person will recognize him as the man best known for 'The Raven', and Cusack captures that desperation and makes it palpable, and does it in a way to make you long for this film to be the real Poe story and not some money-grubbing spectacle.