The Raven

 The Raven 2012

• Director: James McTiegue
• Seen by this director: V for Vendetta
• Based on the book: No, but very loosely on Poe’s works
• Cast: John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jimmy Yuill
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• John Cusack – The Butler, 2012, 1408, The Contract, Serendipity, High Fidelity, Being John Malkovich, Cradle Will Rock, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Grosse Pointe Blank, Stand by Me
• Alice Eve – The Decoy Bride, Starter for 10
• Luke Evans - The Girl on the Train, High-Rise, The Hobbit etc, Tamara Drewe, Robin Hood
• Brendan Gleeson – Alone in Berlin, Suffragette, Edge of Tomorrow, Harry Potter etc, In Bruges, Breakfast on Pluto, Kingdom of Heaven, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, AI, My Life So Far, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, Braveheart
• Kevin McNally - The Man Who Knew Infinity, Legend, Downton Abbey, Valkyrie, Pirates of the Caribbean etc, Johnny English, Shackleton, The Pianist, Sliding Doors, Cry Freedom, I Claudius
• Oliver Jackson-Cohen – Bonekickers
• Jimmy Yuill – All Is True, The Magic Flute, As You Like It, Ladies in Lavender, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Frankenstein, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V
• Why? Poe and Cusack
• Seen: 29 May 2022      

       Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary

       Over the many quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore

       While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping….

 

       ‘The Raven’ is one of the few poems of which I can actually quote a verse or two. I’ve read and reread Poe since I was a kid.

       It’s with some trepidation that I start the film. I’m quite sure that it won’t live up to Poe’s greatness. On the other hand, I’m quite fond of John Cusack.

       The story, such as it is, borrows blatantly from Poe but turns it all into a gruesome murder-police film and a banal love story. It’s almost clever but also contrived, muddled and a bit boring.

       The main problem, it grieves me to say, is the miscasting of John Cusack. I simply can’t see him as Edgar Allen Poe in him, I see only John Cusack with a black goatee. Furthermore, Eve is tepid as the love interest and there is zero chemistry between her and Cusack.

       My advice: read Poe’s works instead. 

2 1/2* of 5.

 

 

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