The Raven
The Raven
R | 27 April 2012 (USA)
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A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.

Reviews
tychoi

There was a series of murders which were related to Poe stories. One of the victims was Poe's lover. So Detective Fields and Poe tried to save her. Finally, they succeed in saving her. The message of the movie is real love. Because he loved her, Poe gave his life for hers. I think she was Poe's real love. This movie is an adaptation from Poe's works. In this movie, portrayals or main characters were expressed very well. In particular, the killing ways are related well to Poe's stories like tell-tale heart, the cask of amontillado and Annabel Lee. These were very intriguing. But you cannot watch this movie anymore the big screen. This movie was in 2012. There are flaws. For example, the murder kidnaps Poe's fiancé even though there were many guards like police men at the party. Besides this, Other things were good. So I can give this movie an 8 out of 10

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joseluispala

The raven Mystery This movie is the adaption the of the poem made by Edgar Allan Poe and they did a really good job. The mystery is every part of the movie. The work of the actors is good, in my point of view the work of John Cusack was amazing. The special effects for me it were not to good for me. I really like this movie but talking about Edgar Allan Poe this movie needed more blood and horror.

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gargiuloalessia

The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in 1845 and adapted as a movie in 2012: it is a mystery, thriller film dealing with many murders committed by a mad man inspired by the author's stories.The atmosphere of the movie I dark, Gothic and scary and the main characters are John Cusack, poet's representation, Luke Evans, detective Fields, Alice Eve, Emily Hamilton and Sam Hazeldine, Ivan. Both the poem an the movie are intriguing because they perfectly reflect Po's mind according to his problems and his dark side. This is the reason why the film is not flawed. It structure is circular and furthermore there are other Edgar Allan Po poems mentioned in the movie like: The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart and finally Annabelle Lee. His unconditional passionate love for Emily is the same that the poet shows in the poem Annabelle Lee. I really liked this movie and I highly recommend it. It would definitely appeal to those who enjoy dark, horror and mysterious stories.

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Coventry

Of course I can't be entirely sure, since unfortunately I have never written a screenplay myself, but I really think that one of the most difficult screenplays to write is that of a deliberately fictional story about real (historical) protagonists. You can't make it too stern or sober, otherwise it's becoming more of a biography, but on the other hand you certainly also can't make it too extravagant or far- fetched, or else you'll risk that the fans of the pivot characters will be offended. I can't think of too many other titles at the moment, apart from "Agatha" (Agatha Christie), "Bubba Ho-Tep" (Elvis Presley) and this "The Raven". Director James McTeigue undertook an admirable, but only semi-successful, effort to fictionalize the final days of the legendary horror author/poet Edgar Allan Poe. The circumstances of Poe's death, at the relatively young age of forty years old, have always been considered vague and mysterious as he was found on a bench in the park whilst heavily confused and delusional. By now, modern medicine has become accurate enough to assume that Poe most likely died from a brain tumor, but I can imagine that in the year 1849 the doctors' diagnosis was either poisoning or opium overdose. The mystery and legend surrounding Poe's death forms the starting point of "The Raven". We are introduced to our protagonist – adequate but boringly depicted by John Cusack – when he's in a miserable state… It's been a long time since Poe released a successful piece of writing and works on a sort of freelance basis for a crummy newspaper, he struggles with alcohol and drug addictions and the father of his beloved muse Emily literally hates his guts. Just when things can't seem to get any worse, Poe is apprehended for murder by the ambitious Baltimore detective Fields. A mother and her young daughter were gruesomely murdered exactly as described in one of Poe's horror stories, which naturally makes him the prime suspect. Luckily, for our writer at least, another vicious Poe-inspired murder takes place whilst he's being interrogated. Detective Fields and Poe agree to work together in order to stop the killer, and via correspondence in the newspaper they challenge him/her to a cat-and-mouse game. Intriguing and compelling plot, for sure, but horror fanatics immediately recognize it as a total rip-off of Dario Argento's "Tenebre". Genre addicts, myself included, will always prefer Argento's version, but admittedly it's a nice touch to replace the fictional author from "Tenebre" with the historical horror pioneer Edgar Allan Poe. The first couple of murders are also promising, most notably the massacre with the giant pendulum, but then "The Raven" quickly turns into a largely dull, talkative and uninspired secondhand thriller. The whole subplot with Poe's girlfriend being kept buried alive somewhere by the killer is implausible, the references towards Poe's phenomenal work decrease as the plot unfolds itself further. As the search for the killer carries on and becomes less and less interesting, director McTeigue sadly also reverts to dreadful clichés. You know, like the death of the loyal deputy or sinister figures emerging from the fog-enshrouded streets like in cheap Jack the Ripper movies, etc. John Cusack is a terrific actor, but he lacks the natural darkness to properly portray a flamboyant individual like Edgar Allen Poe. I actually don't think that any A-listed nowadays actor is capable of depicting Poe, including Ewan McGregor or Robert Downey Jr. who apparently also stood on the short list. In fact, bleakness and despair is what's missing most in this movie overall. If you're going to make a movie about the oeuvre of the pioneer of macabre tales, please make sure it's as dark and depressing as the oeuvre itself.

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