ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Raven: Not Bad If You Don't Expect Too Much

Updated on October 10, 2012

Director: James McTeigue
Cast: John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Dave Legeno

The Raven opens up with a title card noting that the famous Edgar Allen Poe died under mysterious circumstances on October 7, 1849.Then, we open up on a scene set on that gloomy morning, where Poe (John Cusack) is sitting on a park bench looking up at the sky, no doubt for the last time. What is he dying of? What does he eventually die of? The movie, directed by James McTeigue (who also directed the excellent V for Vendetta), offers up a fictionalized answer to that question, but I have to admit, it's an admittedly entertaining answer. Oh, make no mistake about it: The Raven is trash. But it's like what the late Pauline Kael used to say: “Movies are so rarely great art, that if we can't appreciate great trash, we might as well stop going.”

The movie opens up with a double murder. A woman is found half decapitated in her apartment, and her 12-year old daughter has been strangled to death and stuffed up a chimney. The police are baffled by the crime. They heard someone lock the door from the inside, but when they finally break the door down, there is no sign of the culprit anywhere. To add to the mystery, all the windows are shut and unbroken, and there does not seem to be any other way out of the apartment. So, how did the killer escape?

The detective assigned to the case, Detective Fields (Luke Evans), notes the similarities between the murder and Poe's story “The Murder of Rue Morgue” (Which is funny, because if memory serves me right, the killer in that story was an orangutang. Personally, I think it would have been a riot if, in the end of the film, the killer was revealed to be an orangutang, but then again, I have a weird sense of humor.) Fields initially assumes Poe to be the culprit, but when Poe's darling love Emily (Alice Eve) is abducted by the killer during an annual masquerade ball held by her father (Brendan Gleeson), Fields enlists him as a sort of consultant on the case.

Once upon a midnight dreary...
Once upon a midnight dreary...

We do learn the reason behind the killer's rampage, and it's kind of a silly one. Apparently, the madman wants Poe to write a story each day in the local newspaper, recounting the killer's latest crime, and in doing so, he will continue killing and leave a clue to Emily's whereabouts on each body. Do serial killers really do this? I mean, sure, I have heard of cases where murderers wrote taunting letters to the police. But to murder another human being, then stop what they're doing, and deliberately leave little clues at the scene for the police to find? It just seems too much like a screenwriting trick, and it sort of robs the killer of any dimension. He's just another slasher movie villain. It seems like it would have been more interesting had the police tracked him down by profiling his character, instead of him leaving the clues for them to find.

The killer is just not very interesting here, but Cusack's over-the-top performance as Poe is a riot. One of his earlier scenes has him entering a bar, mixing words with the bar tender and a customer. He begins boasting about his fame and, at one moment, issues a “Raven” quoting challenge to the patrons in the place. It is one of many amusing scenes Cusack has, but it isn't until he channels his character's tortured soul that his performance truly comes alive. When we see him writing his stories for the paper, in an urgent effort to save his lover's life, he turns in a surprisingly poignant and compelling performance. Cusack, in other words, carries the film from start to finish. Had a lesser actor been cast as Poe, the movie might not have been as much fun.

Which is not to discredit the work by James McTeigue. He brings an almost surrealistically gorgeous visual polish to the proceedings, and keeps the movie moving at such a break neck pace that the film's 111 minute running time seems to pass by in the blink of an eye. The movie is also carried by a solid supporting cast, with Brendan Gleeson turning in a stellar performance as Emily's overly protective father. The set-pieces are entertaining, and while I have already noted how uninteresting the killer is, I will say this, I did not figure out who it was until it was revealed. The Raven does a lot of things right, and it is an entertaining film.

But will it stay with you for long once the end credits finally roll? Probably not. There is an interesting idea behind the film, and while the filmmakers managed to make an entertaining movie out of said idea, one gets the feeling like they could've done more with it. Take the film's tone as a prime example. There are some scenes which are played for camp, and had the whole film played out that way, it might have been more entertaining. But then there are instances where the film tries to be dark and scary, as though it were trying to be Se7en set in the 1800's, which could have also worked had the entire film played out that way. Of course, Se7en was scary, and The Raven is not. Not by a long shot. The tone is often times so uneven that the film sometimes comes across as unfocused and confused. Had the filmmakers been sharper in their execution, and had they written a killer who wasn't a screenwriting device, then The Raven could have been something special. As it is, it's not bad, it's just not a good as you would hope.

Final Grade: *** (out of ****)

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)