The Raven (2012) review

(7/10)

This movie would probably be a guilty pleasure of mine because I loved it so much when I saw it. I actually liked the script, acting, and story. However, I don't believe it actually could have happened.

PLOT:Edgar Allen Poe (John Cusack) is a famous poet down on his luck in the papers. He's lost his inspiration and a lot of people ridicule him for his arrogance and drinking problem. He's in love with Emily (Alice Eve), the daughter of a rich man who hates Poe's guts. One day, a series of killings start to occur strongly and mysteriously based on Poe's work. Clever detective, Emmett Fields (Luke Evans), recruits Poe to help them solve the mystery. Even worse, Emily is kidnapped by this killer, so now it's up to Poe and the detective to decipher the clues left by the copycat killer. It's a pretty good plot executed very well.



ACTING:The acting in here was pretty good. John Cusack played an excellent role as Edgar Allen Poe. I don't think I've seen him played quite this well. Luke Evans also played a pretty cool part as Detective Fields. Not all of the performances were that good though. Alice Eve played a bit of an uneven part as Emily, as well as Sam Hazeldine did as Ivan, Poe's sidekick. Aside from all of these, the other shiners were Brendan Gleeson as Colonel Hamilton and Kevin McNally as Maddux.

SCORE:The score was done fairly well by Lucas Vidal. It set the mood and got the song done, not to mention a cool ending song called "Burn My Shadow".

EFFECTS:The blood and gore effects for this movie were pretty cool and well done. The effects were CG for the most part, but they still looked pretty cool, especially in the "Pit and the Pendulum" scene. I really liked them.



OTHER CONTENT:Now, I couldn't help but love this movie. I liked the murder mystery and how it related to Poe's work, and I liked the script, but I do admit there were a few major problems I had with this movie. Firstly, how do they expect us to believe that all of this happened? In a way, it disgraces Poe's history, for it adds too much of a modern twist to an older time. Secondly, a few of the twists in the story seemed very impractical and unbelievable. I did get into this movie, but it just didn't seem believable to me at times. I don't really get if they're trying to convince us of this happening or if this is purely a work of fiction bent on focusing Poe into modern times. Either way, I did like the movie, and I would watch it again.

OVERALL,a good movie with a pretty good plot, pretty good acting overall, fitting score, cool CG blood effects, a nice murder mystery, and a good script, but there was a bit of uneven performances, it seemed too unrealistic for its time, and some of the twists seemed too unbelievable as well.