REVIEW: The Raven Makes a Po? Case for Poe
James McTeigue?s The Raven, a thriller set in Baltimore during the last days of Edgar Allan Poe?s life, is a handsome-looking thing, with fairly grand period costumes and reasonably lavish sets. So much for production values: In every other way the picture is stiff and unyielding, hampered by a clumsy plot and diorama performances. The whole thing has the feel of a second-rate living-history exhibit.
John Cusack plays the beleaguered Poe, who hasn?t had a literary hit in a long time and doesn?t even have enough dough in his pocket to buy the good stiff drink he sorely needs: When the barkeep at the local watering hole refuses to serve him, he tosses a pile of coins and crumpled money on the bar, and there?s an old button mixed in there, too. Still, Edgar finds some solace in his romance with the pretty, vivacious Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve), whose father greatly disapproves of the match. (It helps that he?s played by a gruff, grouchy Brendan Gleeson, taking his role only about as seriously as he needs to.)
Meanwhile, there?s something really ugly going down in Baltimore. A serial killer is offing his victims via grisly means clearly inspired by Poe?s stories: A mother and daughter suffer a throat cutting and a strangulation, respectively, a la "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." A critic (!) named Griswold ? based on one of Poe?s real-life adversaries -- is slowly, excruciatingly bisected by a scary slicer thing right out of "The Pit and the Pendulum." Fields (Luke Evans), a young detective working on the case, appeals to Edgar to help him find the culprit. To complicate matters, the creep absconds with Emily and challenges Edgar to find her before she succumbs to the nasty death he?s got…
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