The Raven [DVD]

This is set in Baltimore in 1849,in the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life. He was allegedly muttering "Reynolds" repeatedly, seemingly an ill man (as he died soon after!). The exact relevance of this is unknown. The director of the film (James McTeigue) and the production team have come up with the idea of describing some elements of Poe's real life escapades with a fictional account of his writings combined with detective work. The combination is somewhat ingenious taken with a large slice of poetic and directorial liberty. A mad man is on the loose. A mother and daughter have been brutally murdered in a locked room with nailed down windows.

Astute detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) finds the crime resembles that of a bloodthirsty tale in the local newspaper, written by a struggling persona non grata, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack), who spends most of his time drinking, womanising, especially with Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve), and scrambling to make ends meet. Poe is inevitably questioned by the police whilst at the same time the killer strikes again with another murder based on a newspaper Poe story. Realising a 'serial killer' (a term not used at that time) is on the prowl, Fields enrolls Poe's help to trap the murderer, especially when the next victim may be known to the author, before it is too late. In these situations it is inevitable that the viewer is thrown off track as to the identity of the perpetrator of the murders. Just so here.

John Cusack is excellent in the lead and portrays Poe in an elementary manner with conviction as does the direction concerning what is genuinely known of Poe's last few days (excluding the fiction). He looks and acts the part. Likewise Luke Evans's performance is assured. The period atmosphere is well captured including scene-setting and costumes. Excellent supporting cast also include Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson Cohen. An overall entertaining film despite some flaws. Great fun.

The director of V for Vendetta returns to direct yet another gothic horror tale, this time round based on the mysterious life of the american horror writer Edgar Allen Poe. The story follows a series of grizzly crimes carried out by a serial killer adapting them from the stories of Poe. But when Poe's love is taken he must work with the police and solve a series of cryptic clues in order to save her. At first glance the story is intriguing, but it never reaches its full potential. Its decidedly straight forward and is never twisty or shocking enough to be truly gripping. The script is also somewhat poorly written, the dialogue seems clunky and inconsistent and at times too modern for its setting.
However, John Cusack is a great Poe, looking both haunted and eccentric and delivering a decent performance considering the script he's been saddled with. Other cast members are less memorable, Brendan Gleeson and Luke Evans are given decent parts but again the dialogue is never polished enough. Alice Eve delivers a good performance as Poe's love but isn't given very much to do.
As for the direction, it is effective, there are some well staged set pieces, both disturbing and fast paced but its not sweeping and subtle enough. The period setting could have been used to greater effect to achieve a more gritty, realistic atmosphere, but is instead a bit too polished and hollywood to achieve the gothic, spooky setting this film needed. The soundtrack, too, is not effectively scary or jumpy enough and does nothing to heighten the tense occasions dotted sporadically throughout the film.
Overall, the Raven needed a whole new script, a grittier atmosphere and more twists in the story. That said it is an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours and won't require much effort to follow and the performance by Cusack is great. I'd say wait until it is cheaper. Another drawback to this dvd is the complete lack of special features, not so much as a blooper reel or deleted scene in sight.

Cusack is a pleasant actor to watch, seems natural with a hint that he might be about to perform a Vincent Price wink to camera.

However, though this Poe is acceptably modernised in performance, there is a persistent name-dropping of key people from Poe's real history blended less than seamlessly with a graphic-novel stylised version of Poe'ness; there seems to be a distinct lack of the true gothic to the whole atmosphere. Fog & a thinned out forest of thin trees does not make for gothicism. And the blood was hardly super-abundant, indeed, dwelling on death as a motif or telling theme seems to gone by the way-side, becoming background shade.

The overall effect was similar to a blend of From Hell and one of the Conan Doyle based tales that was under the monicker of Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes, it had that 'lets hunt a serial killer in period costume' feel. There was more a sense of Gaston Leroux to the proceedings too, which could have again made it more gothic in the crime arena. But it did not. Perhaps it was a little over-polished.

Clean, clinical with a fine series of performances. Lacking emotional details, or a sense of overt passion, perhaps there was an attempt to avoid the camp or gothic hysteria which could have made it less money but more rewarding. It will probably grow on people, benefit from further watching, but i fear the clinician that made it is driven to a youthful bent, that has limited the sense of pervading dread and sheer gravity of age, that Poe encapsulated & felt. I could have done with a few trappings or cliches just to add a little pepper, say a cobweb or a stage-hand peeling what might be a grape...