By JOHN WENZEL By JOHN WENZEL ADVERTISING The Denver Post Edgar Allen Poe … the action hero? In the world of “The Raven,” anything is possible. The movie imagines one of America’s greatest literary geniuses as a dashing, deeply conflicted
By JOHN WENZEL
The Denver Post
Edgar Allen Poe … the action hero?
In the world of “The Raven,” anything is possible. The movie imagines one of America’s greatest literary geniuses as a dashing, deeply conflicted writer caught in a series of maddening events shortly before his mysterious death.
The idea is a ripe one: fictionalizing Poe’s last days as an alcoholic pauper on the streets of Baltimore, where he was found delirious on Oct. 3, 1849, before expiring in a hospital four days later.
The subject matter screams out for cleverness and depth, the sort of mind-bending twists and satisfying darkness that Poe himself would love. It finds them only in small doses.
John Cusack plays an accessible, Hollywood-friendly Poe, a desperate widower who gets by on his wit and humor. The grim, miserable countenance of Poe we see on book jackets isn’t emphasized here. Instead, we have Poe the charming, penniless rogue and boozer, who argues with barkeeps over his tab despite being an internationally beloved writer.
Cusack is saddled with a jet-black beard and omnipresently bulbous overcoat, but he manages to bring an inherent likability to the role. He’s rewarded with some fun, tongue-twisting dialogue that Poe fans will no doubt appreciate. But a lurching plot and indecisive tone prevent him from ever rising above a slight portrayal.
Director James McTeigue (“V for Vendetta”) sidesteps the Quentin Tarantino-meets-Terry Gilliam glee of Guy Ritchie’s recent “Sherlock Holmes” movies for a more muted palette, painting Baltimore as a dreary burgh with splashes of orange flame and crimson blood.
Poe’s clashes with the staff at his newspaper are contrasted with a deepening murder mystery, which is investigated by the square-jawed Detective Fields (up-and-comer Luke Evans).
Someone is kidnapping citizens and killing them in the manner of Poe’s short stories, taunting him with clues in a presumed play for an audience with Poe. There are a few gory, torture-porn scenes (the film is rated R) that never feel particularly dark or grimy, and some moments with the shadowy antagonist that feel ripped from every serial-killer movie since “The Silence of the Lambs.”
In fact, “The Raven” seems content to present flashes of other films and genres without committing to any of them, whether it’s mining the rhythm of a police procedural or channeling Tim Burton’s gothic fetishes.
Cusack never finds much chemistry with his love, Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve, the only appreciable female character here).
So is it a story worthy of Poe?
Hardly. Like the title bird that hangs around Poe during moments of portent, the filmmakers didn’t seem to know quite what to do with him, so they merely reference his spirit instead of summoning and integrating it fully into the movie. Poe’s brilliant stories are reduced to occasions for Rube Goldberg contraptions and hokey, improbable calling cards.
Poe-philes will have fun spotting the references to individual stories and lines. And newbies may be sufficiently intrigued as to seek out Poe’s work — which is the greatest service this middling thriller could provide.
