Quote the raven…."Meh!"

I took Manders to see the Raven this past weekend. I walked in with zero expectations and left with almost the same feeling.

Actually that isn’t completely true. This is the first of two films that sparks some minor intrigue, but not enough to get jazzed about. The Raven and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter both have absurd concepts. One has Edgar Allen Poe solving crimes like Law and Order S.P.U. (Special Poetry Unit) or C.S.I. Baltimore: 1849 and the other has Abe Lincoln fighting vampires. See absurd, but awesome ideas, how could I not have a tiny bit of interest in this?



When Poe is mentioned this is the image that flys to the front of my brain.
"He's head is like a watermelon!"

The Raven takes place in the waning days of the life of Edgar Allen Poe and it gives an alternate reality look into how he might have died. There is a killer on the loose in Baltimore and he just has to be stopped! Even worse, he is using the short stories and poems of Poe as his inspiration. It is your basic copycat/ serial killer kind of thing. It is up to the police and Poe to stop the killing, rescue the damsel and generally save the day. I’m paraphrasing a bit, but that is the gist of the film. However, it doesn’t do this that well.

This movie is a slow moving thriller, and was a problem. It was too slow. I know you need to build suspense, but damn you can do it a bit faster than this.

The acting wasn’t terrible. I have no ill will toward John Cusack he has done stuff I like. He didn’t irritate me as a crazy Edgar Allen Poe. He tried to be all crazy when he had to be, but I always thought of him as more melancholy. Probably his poems and opium use have painted that picture in my brain. There is also a myriad of’ “Hey it’s that guy!” in this film. Everyone is pretty much a bit player from something else, Brendan Gleeson aside. They all do a descent job.

There is some gore, but not enough to drive anti-gore people away and almost enough to keep gore enthusiasts happy. The grisly murders are just not grisly enough for me, and there was too much C.G.I. blood when an old fashioned bucket of fake blood could have done the job just fine.

The plot is nothing new either, just a new spin on every other thriller killer movie. The biggest problem is that this story has been done better. Then again what thriller/killer hasn’t pulled from or been like another film in the last ten years? It seems not many.

This was sort of like Se7en, but set in 1849. That is what I had the biggest problem with. If you have never seen Se7en, (well then same on you) then you might dig the Raven. If you have seen Se7en, just watch it again and pass on The Raven. A shame since the idea of Poe solving crimes is too crazy for part of me to want to see. Here is to hoping Lincoln dusting vamps goes a bit better than Poe solving crime.