The Raven Review

(buy The Raven here)

John Cusack is Edgar Allen Poe in this dark horror thriller of mediocre proportions. It is available now on blu ray here.

When you think of John Cusack, at least when I think of him, you often times remember the guy that is always chasing that one lost love. Whether he’s in the middle of a break up or he’s trying to win the affections of a hot chick that won’t give him the time of day, Cusack is known for wearing his heart on his proverbial sleeve, and this movie in some ways is a culmination of all his previous work, only it is wrapped in the fat head of Edgar Allen Poe.

The movie is a tale of thrilling proportions, or at least it tries to be, with a gothic feel that is quite interesting. There are a lot of components to the way the actors portray the characters that makes it fit for a stage play rather than a full-length movie. In fact, I often times wondered what it would be like to see this in person live on stage, but that would mean having a lot of money because good quality stage plays cost a lot of money to see live in Los Angeles.

The Raven moves through several acts where Poe played by Cusack, has to go through a series of grizzly murders in order to find a missing person, buried alive. The whole movie rings of Poe’s stories and really does a good job with the visual representations of the writings. However, the movie starts to slow down and get really boring towards the third act. Even though there is a slowdown, it’s still has a great deal of action, suspense, and a plot twist that you may see coming a mile away but cheer for anyways.

All in all, I liked The Raven, even if I did have a few problems with the pacing and the overall story. This work of historical fiction really does make me a tad bit more interested in Poe’s work, even though I already find what I know about his writings to be fascinating. For those that haven’t read his work, you can purchase his books here. For those that are familiar with his work the visuals are going to be cool, but the movie as a whole? Well, that’s debatable. It leans towards greatness visually but lacks a certain gusto that I would want from horror movies. Your opinion will vary, I’m sure.