From the time this film was announced, through production and right up to trailers and promo, The Raven has been met with more than its fair share of skepticism from critics and Poe fans alike. And that's fair. It's certainly not a historically factual representation of exactly who Edgar Allen Poe was (or so we guess), but it also never tried to be.
So while I'm sure my peers will break down every verifiable choice of director James McTeigue as well as John Cusack's performance as the famed poet, there's no denying The Raven was a thrilling 90-minute journey movie-goers like me were totally willing to take.
Check out my interview with John here.
The film takes place in 18th century Baltimore where Poe is a drunken, social outcast scraping pennies together by selling his brutal tales to a local paper. When a serial killer starts taking his stories and reenacting the murders, the lead detective (Luke Evans) enlists Poe's help to decode his next move. Of course, Poe gets even more emotionally invested when one of the victims turns out to be his fiance Emily (Alice Eve).
The concept behind a film like this -- one that takes a historically cryptic and ambiguous figure and throws in blood, murder and mystery is bound to receive seemingly-pretentious disapproval. And while The Raven certainly has its flaws (namely, for me, the lack of real chemistry between Cusack and Eve), its intent is executed successfully.
Cusack's challenge was, of course, portraying this alcoholic, maniacal mind while still evoking empathy for his character's emotional turmoil. And from where I was sitting, Cusack's performance was commendable and nevertheless believable. But hey, I was also never one to hop on the carping-Cusack bandwagon either.
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What did you think of the film? Let us know in the comments!
Follow Sharon Tharp on Twitter: @sharontharp
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