The Raven

Much as Sherlock Holmes was given a makeover for the popcorn brigade by Guy Ritchie in 2009 and again in 2011, real-life author Edgar Allan Poe is re-invented here as a gun-totin’ sleuth with an irresistible allure for a comely society filly. 

John Cusack plays Edgar Allen Poe in a story that fabricates the final days of the famed murder mystery/horror writer as he gets caught up in the fiendish scheme of a deranged fan whose nose has been put out of joint by the fact that Poe hasn’t written anything decent for a long time. The script draws on various scenes from Poe’s fiction to create what is essentially a by-numbers thriller in period garb as Poe and a Dr Watson substitute, Detective Fields (Luke Evans), try to track down the former’s blonde-tressed love interest (Alice Eve) before she is done away with by the dasatardly nut-job.

Just as Cusack is no Robert Downey Jr, The Raven is across the board a good deal less effective than the Ritchie films. Like most thrillers the plot depends on a large number of contrivances, some of which such as the huge pendulum cleaver that slices one of the killer’s victims in half, are frankly ludicrous in their level of improbability as the film follows the familiar cat-and-mouse scenario in a generic 19th century setting, ultimately leading to an underwhelming ending and some incongrously flashy end-credits (the director worked as a first AD on The Matrix trilogy and directed V For Vendetta, films which are clearly more his style)

The Raven is technically well-made but the script by writers Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare is prosaic and the characters two dimensional, the film falling flat between its literary sources and its multiplex sensibility.

 

Want something different?