The Raven (2012)

I am a massive John Cusack fan, so much so that I make a point of watching pretty much everything that he is in. I think it's based mostly on the films that he co-wrote, Grosse Point Blank and High Fidelity, both of which played a big part in my youth. Either way it's led me to some wonderful films like The Sure Thing, Say Anything and Broadcast News. Unfortunately it has also led me to films such as 2012, 1408, and just to prove it's not just films with numbers in "The Contract", all of which were pretty damn bad. The Raven kind of falls between these, though I'm fairly sure closer to the latter than former.

The story is an imagining of what could possibly have happened during the last days of Edgar Allen Poe's life, a period which the film kindly tells us very little is known about. Now, I am pretty unfamiliar with Poe's work, indeed my only real knowledge of him comes from the Simpsons, from the brilliant Treehouse of Horror which parodies The Raven, and the episode where Lisa betrays a classmate which mimics The Tell-Tale Heart. However, with the writers of The Simpsons amongst his fans, and his standing as one of America's greatest poets I figure I should know a little more about him and actually get round to reading some of his work. Indeed, just the other day I was in a book store looking at one of the various collected works of Poe books when an attractive young woman picked up the same book next to me. I was tempted to say something until I realised that the only things I actually know about Poe would make me sound like a Socio-path were I to include them in casual conversation with a stranger. So there's one incentive to read something.

Anyway, with my limited knowledge of Poe I wasn't sure what to expect from this film. It's an odd one because it's not quite an action film, the nearer you get to the end the action does pick up a bit with the final chase of the criminal. however, it's not quite a detective film or a thriller either. It's gruesome throughout, something which I am not squeamish about, but that seemed unnecessary in the context and as we'd already been told that the events were unknown, it was a little too over the top to be a reasonable explanation, and therefore seemed like an odd thing to just show people.

The film's strength lies in Cusack (and remember I'm bias here). He portrays Poe as a bitter, alcoholic poet who feels undervalued in his day, frustrated with his lack of success whilst other, lesser, poets thrive. He lives under no illusion that critical success feeds a man and is a sore point. Cusack plays the role very well, his natural delivery suits the poetic style of the dialogue well. It must be said though that for someone who sees themselves as highly intelligent, the Poe in this film does not talk as you would have imagined a master poet to speak, but never mind. The rest of the cast are fine enough, but I am finding it difficult to recall what they look like, let alone what they did.

I think this film will end up in bargain bins, or fogotten before too long. It doesn't really have an audience and I can't imagine it did well at the cinema. It's too much reliant on cheap thrills for Poe fans, and the idea that a film with Edgar Allen Poe as the lead character will appeal to the masses is a little laughable. I watched it for Cusack, put nearly anyone else in the role and I lose interest, so I can't say that this film is a flop, because it had elements that were interesting, but it is far from a classic, very MOR unfortunately.