MOVIE REVIEW - The Raven

John Cusack stars as Edgar Allen Poe in the new thriller, The Raven.

The Raven explores, (as much as possible, as not much is known) about the final few days of 19th century writer and poet Edgar Allen Poe. Poe, of course was a genius, and madman all at the same time. He wrote such fantastic stories as Murders In the Rue Morgue, Pit And The Pendulum, and the iconic poem, The Raven. In this story they try to explore the possible reason for his unexplained death in October of 1849 in Baltimore.

It's a thriller that claims that Poe was engaged to a beautiful young woman that is abducted by a serial killer. The killer is using methods and scenarios from Poe's own stories to murder his victims. He then while having the beautiful women hostage, demands that Poe write the end of this story on how her fate will play out And to get it published in the Baltimore newspaper. Interesting enough plot line.

But that isn't enough to carry the day. The Raven is certainly not a bad movie, but it will suffer from one of the most dreaded movie fates that there is: it's forgettable. Behind the nice costuming, sets, and dark backdrop of eerie 19th century Baltimore is a story that in theory is good, but there's just something missing. When you add it all up, it just comes up short.

I am a Cusack fan. When he picks he right role, he's great. When he's in junk like 2012, he's not. This was a good choice for him, playing Poe, but they didn't write Poe nearly as complex as they should have. This is Edgar Allen Poe. At times, his dialogue was compelling and deep. In others, shallow and quite frankly boring. For this movies sake, Poe must be powerful, commanding and exceptionally literary. There's not enough of that. Cusack does what he can.

The supporting cast overall is weak, and limp, and written poorly. Much of this seems disjointed, and following this at times is not really hard to follow, but you are wondering why you are. There is a lack of any real forward motion at times. This is not an action movie, but not a straight on thriller either. There are flashes of extreme violence, but it's short. But one scene is highly graphic that may be tough for some.

The Raven. The idea is good, the execution is not. It's not a complete washout, but there's just something missing.