The Raven (2012) R 110 minutes
Dark, Mystery, Scary, Suspense, Thriller
Director: James McTeigue
Cast: John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally
A lot/Strong : Death, Gore, Language, Violence
Related Articles
Some/Mild : Alcohol, Sex/Nudity, Torture
No : Drugs
Overall grade: "C+"
Recommended: "Only for John Cusack fans"
Directing: "B-", Acting: "B+", Visual Effects: "N/A"
Story Line: "C", Aftertaste: "C+", Date Movie: "F"
Family Friendliness: "F", Original Concept: "No"
If I were asked to come up with a single word describing “The Raven”, it would have been “underwhelming”. This anemic second-rate Movie is by no means what we expected from the Australian director James McTeigue whose 2005 debut – the stylish Sci-Fi action thriller “V for Vendetta” - was refreshingly interesting, emotionally touching and received well-deserved favorable reviews from critics and wide audience alike.
Sadly, unlike “V for Vendetta” “The Raven” is virtually indistinguishable from the multitude of the mediocre thrillers continuously produced by Hollywood. There is nothing in particular about this movie (except maybe the acting to some extent) that would set it apart from the rest of the pack.
The weakest component of this so-so thriller is its pitiful screenplay carelessly tossed together by the inexperienced newcomers Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare. The mystery thriller audience, being not too picky, perhaps could have forgiven most of the flaws plaguing “The Raven” - from the glaring plot holes, to the puzzling loose ends, to the failed character development attempts. Unfortunately for the movie, it contains a major defect that cannot be that easily overlooked: the alarming lack of logic combined with the shocking absence of psychological credibility. Things simply do not add up in “The Raven” both from logical and from psychological perspectives.
Not only the final scenes of “The Raven” where the dangerous secrets are revealed and the deep mysteries are resolved are regrettably anticlimactic, but they also leave us in a state of perplexed disappointment. Now, that we finally know “the truth”, the more we think about it, the less credible it looks to us. The harder we try putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, the clearer we see that it does not have plausible solution. Moreover, we keep finding more and more fundamental flaws: logical inconsistencies, practical infeasibilities, and psychological impossibilities.
In addition to having major issues with the “mystery” part, “The Raven” also somewhat disappoints as a thriller. Simply put, the movie is not thrilling enough. It almost never reaches the level of suspense necessary to keep us “glued” to the screen. While “The Raven” prominently features reckless chases, spooky dark tunnels, mysterious strangers, secluded hiding places, and dangerous misty forests, all these genre clichés apparently do not work as designed and leave us mostly disengaged as a result. Some key ingredients necessary for boosting excitement and stirring up emotions appear to be hopelessly missing from these formulaic, unoriginal scenes.
The similar observation is applicable to the gruesome murders that the mysterious villain of the piece appears to be painstakingly copying from the Poe’s stories. With all their shocking images and gory details, these crime scenes are not in the least impressive and are far more disgusting than terrifying. In fact, somehow the authors managed to make them almost boring, lacking clever and tasteful visual presentation as well as intriguing intellectual substance.
I would also venture to say that even keeping in mind all the weaknesses of the plot, it is also James McTeigue who shares the responsibility for “The Raven” being such a bland, undistinguished movie, since it was his directing that failed to at least to some degree compensate for the deficiencies of the story.
Another disappointing observation is related to the language used in the movie. I am not necessarily against certain language modernizations in the historical pieces, but these language adjustments should be unobtrusive enough to be appreciated by the audience. Avoiding language archaisms should be done in a tasteful manner; it benefits greatly from a careful, measured approach.
Unfortunately, “The Raven” does not demonstrate necessary caution in handling the delicate language adjustments. As a result, instead of flowing smoothly and blending nicely, the overly modernized language of the movie unexpectedly becomes a focus of the unwanted attention.
Of the very few decent scenes in the movie, most are funny ones, filled with warm irony and soft humor. One scene of that kind that comes to mind is the hilarious little show where Poe reads one of his famous melodramatic tear-jerking poems to the adoring female audience. Not surprisingly, the scenes where the timeless Poe’s poetry and prose are recited from the screen are among the rare true highlights of the movie.
As I hinted before, the only reason why you might consider watching this otherwise quite ordinary thriller is the good acting. John Cusack gives a nuanced, atmospheric performance as the famous American author Edgar Allan Poe, even despite this well-known historical character being mercilessly deformed for “The Raven” by the shrewd gang of ignorant screenwriters.
Brendan Gleeson is solid and memorable as usual as Captain Hamilton, a disapproving father of Poe’s love interest – Emily Hamilton, unconvincingly and colorlessly played by Alice Eve (She's Out of My League, 2010). In the movie, Emily is for various reasons out of Edgar’s league, whereas on the acting field the disposition is the opposite: John Cusack is hopelessly out of Alice Eve s league. In addition, very little chemistry can be detected between the lovebirds, Edgar and Emily, which makes their love theme look strained and unconvincing.
Luke Evans, previously known mostly for his thoroughly mediocre so-called “Zeus” from the weak “Immortals” fares a little better and looks slightly more mature in “The Raven” but still does not impress. I am not sure whether it is a lack of experience, a limited range of acting abilities, or a poor work of the director, or a combination of the three, but Luke Evans visibly lacked sophistication and versatility while playing Detective Fields – the second most important character in the movie. His acting looked one-dimensional compared to the captivating, multi-faceted performances of John Cusack Brendan Gleeson and Kevin McNally (Maddux, the newspaper editor).
It could also be that Luke Evans was additionally handicapped by the poorly written screenplay. In the beginning the movie puts Detective Fields is in the center of our attention: he is bright, smart, knowledgeable, rational, and methodical. He is a well-respected determined leader, vastly superior to the nervous, unstable, emotional, artistic, daydreaming, substance-addicted Poe.
As the story progresses, however, it desperately needs to change gears and bring Poe to the forefront, make him the leader, the only hope, and the hero of the piece. Unfortunately, the screen writers lack necessary skill for seamlessly completing this tricky maneuver. As a result of their clumsy efforts, the poor Detective Fields character suffers mightily and is swiftly and forcibly reduced to being a mere sidekick of suddenly very energetic and almost warrior-like Poe.
In conclusion, you might be much better off reading the classic poems and stories by Edgar Allan Poe than watching the unremarkable “The Raven” noteworthy only for its shameless exploit of the Poe’s everlasting legacy.
The movie can be recommended for hardcore John Cusack fans only, since, unfortunately for Brendan Gleeson fans, there is not enough Brendan Gleeson in “The Raven” to justify watching the whole movie for the sake of his performance.
