The Raven (15) ***

The Raven (15) ***

Dir: James McTeigue

Starring: John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans

Synopsis: In Baltimore, a serious of murders which emulate the writings of Edgar Allan Poe sparks Detective Emmett Fields to enlist the poet’s help to track down the killer.

Verdict: The first thing to mention about The Raven is the similarities it bears to other films. It seems to draw inspiration from gore-tastic flicks such as Saw, the mystery of crime thrillers like Sherlock Holmes and Se7en (mimic killings etc).

Once you spot the films behind the film, you can see a lack of originality behind it. However, this does not make it bad – quite the opposite. Though unoriginal in premise, simply the change of historical setting and the way the killer knows the writings of Poe better than he does makes it interesting and, thanks in part to lack of development, the identity of the killer is quite a surprise.

While Cusack’s portrayal of the American author is good, the real star of the film is Evans, who really delivers a much better performance than the lead.

The story is cleverly written, incorporating the writings of Poe in the story as well as part of the story, making it dark and macabre. This includes an egotistic line from the killer to Poe: ‘one day people will stand in lines to see the things we see’. McTeigue hinting at the film being a success maybe?

The clever writing juxtaposes the often poor cinematography. There are some dodgy special effects, and a shot which could have just have easily been omitted - the only downside of which being leaving me without a sentence to write.

Tie all of these things together with the gore and mystery and, if you discount the negatives, the film is enjoyable.