The Raven opens with an title saying that the last few days of Edgar Allan Poe are unexplained even to this day, and then the film throws together an unlikely series of events to explain what happened to the famed poet and writer during that mysterious period of time.
When murders around Baltimore begin to resemble the gruesome stories of Poe (John Cusack), the alcoholic writer is brought in by to the police to help solve them. The plot would feel more appropriate if it was attached to Sherlock Holmes, with the film actually modifying Poe to make him a more Holmes-esque character and creating a love interest in an attempt to create suspense. However he mostly ends up feeling like Holmes-lite. John Cusack doesn’t seem quite sure what to do with the character, with Poe often seeming to be just a bit of a dick. It’s not until his girlfriend is thrown into peril that it even feels he actually cares about the gruesome murders going on.
The film fails because while it is creating the story and characters it forgets to be at all interesting. I am honestly struggling to remember most of the character’s names or even what happened for half the film. The acting is nothing to rave about, with Alice Eve having nothing to do other than scream occasionally and Luke Evans feeling pointless as the main detective on the case. It attempts to counter-balance the boredom with scenes of graphic deaths, and the murder scenes often resemble something from Saw, and are a little hard to watch.
I don’t really understand why films like this are popular, as they just need to go away forever. They have obviously chosen to make these scenes as violent as possible in an attempt to spice up a dull film and failed miserably. Although the idea of someone exacting Poe’s terrifying tales is an interesting one, the mystery as presented in The Raven is pretty rubbish, especially when it’s revealed who is behind the attacks.
Overall Verdict: A dull uninspired murder mystery, definitely give it a miss.
Reviewer: Matt Mallinson