The Raven (2012) Review

 

The Raven (2012)

The Raven follows Edgar Allen Poe, whose help is enlisted to bring down a serial killer, obsessed with the writer’s work. 

With November 1st, sparked some intense, burning need to go back and rewatch this crazy, revisionist look at the final days of lauded poet, Edgar Allen Poe, and it is exactly how it sounds. Bloody, mysterious, and a little corny (Cusack easily could’ve been swapped for Nic Cage and this would’ve been the same movie), it intriguingly blends the style of Sleepy Hollow with Sherlock Holmes to give us a fanatical, mid-19th Century thriller that draws on Poe’s work for inspiration. Now, while this is as ridiculous sounding of a concept as say Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, it works in many ways (and it’s a concept I admittedly love), turning many of Poe’s stories to physical and visual acts of violence that only he can solve, as the passionate crimes go deeper and deeper into his repertoire. It’s like a weird stroke of genius, having him solve murders from his own works, and for a man whose stories are already that of legend, each passing murder becomes a genuine joy (of sorts) to witness unfold. 

Realistically though, this isn’t some forgotten masterpiece and part of where it loses me it’s complete disregard for any historical accuracy whatsoever (I know, I know). Like they opened with his mysterious death, sprinkled in some deep cuts, and then the rest is just thrown at the wall to see what sticks. Obviously though, much of that can be forgiven with the final product however (and the outrageous plot, I guess). 

We also get quite the cast, starring Sam Hazeldine, Kevin McNally, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Brendan Gleeson, Alice Eve, Luke Evans, and John Cusack. Oddly, Eve and Evans are probably the most lackluster bits out of this cast, though my love for Gleeson still shined through. Cusack though, in all of his tortured and brilliant ways, delivers a pretty intense performance, though I’m not sure if it was ever Edgar Allen Poe. 

The Raven, directed by James McTeigue, sticks with the early 2010’s trend of ridiculous revisionist history films, giving us this twisted look into the mind of Poe, of whose genius is stemmed in tragedy, laying it on heavy in order to give us one of the more unique murder mysteries of the past decade. 

7.2/10