MovieChat Forums > The Raven (2012) Discussion > Total Failure on EVERY Level

Total Failure on EVERY Level

posted 11 years ago by ronineditor
9 replies | jump to latest

I've been a fan of Edgar Allen Poe's since childhood so I thought this would be a fun viewing... wow, was I wrong. It failed on so many levels.

#1 - Terrible casting for EAP.
#2 - Terrible plot
#3 - Terrible "writing" (which is ironic, being that this is based on a writer)
#4 - Drab locations
#5 - Lame "cinematography"

I mean, on and on and on.

First of all, this director was awful. There was no consistent theme or 'vibe' throughout. One minute it'd try to be a little dark, then Sherlock Holmes, then moments of levity. It was all over the map and stuck in neutral and the director clearly didn't have the confidence to stick with "his" way of doing it.

It's just a random wild goose chase and it's laughable how you go, "Wait, how'd they solve that?" Then, we're off to the next crime scene. After a while you just say, screw it, we're going here and there.

The characters aren't likeable, there's no weight to them - totally wooden.

The ending was stupid, just absolutely stupid. EAP, while dying, just figures out the solution which he could have doing without having to die. The 'bad guy' just leaves... the ONLY time he doesn't follow through on his promise - is the conclusion to his story? No way. Then, he's off to France but somehow Fields (two days behind him) figured everything out and was waiting for him in the right carriage.

What a pile of crap this was. It could have been so cool had a Tim Burton (ala "Sleepy Hollow") type of director directed it.

[–] daianajaime 11 years ago

I completely agree with everything you just said, this movie dragged on for two hours and it sucked the life out of me in a way I don't even have enough energy to complain, but the killer did keep his promise. He told Poe where Emily was, or did you mean Poe didn't keep a promise?

[–] ronineditor 11 years ago

Oh, at the end... I meant that the killer (I forget his name already and I just watched it, it was that forgettable) never really 'said' where she was, Poe just figured it out. Did he give Poe a clue, other than letting Poe talk it out himself?

The whole movie, though, just felt like a hollow attempt at doing a Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes knock-off. I really thought it was going to be a sleeper good film.

[–] daianajaime 11 years ago

I watched it two days ago and I forgot it as well haha, yes he gave him a huge clue right two seconds before making his escape. He quoted an important line from one of Poe's most famous stories, "The Tell Tale Heart", which is a story in which a body is buried under the floorboards. Poe recognized the line immediately (since he'd written it himself) and realized he could only be saying she was underground.

God I hated Poe in this movie though, I've always imagined Poe as a humble man and sad and a bit insane, nothing like Robert Downey's Sherlock and the character just came off as fake and arrogant.

[–] ronineditor 11 years ago

Oh yeah, I forgot about that line. At that point I had it on but I was tuned out pretty much :)

Yeah, I always pictured Poe more like a sullen, dark guy... I think closer to the BBCs Sherlock character. Or, a darker version of Tim Burton, if that makes sense. But in this movie, he was like a step away from being Nicolas Cage in "National Treasure", running around a city looking for clues.

Could have been an off-the-wall great idea had they done it right.

[–] atheismo 10 years ago

Did he give a clue? Hell, yes!

If you would at least know the author and his stories for 0.5 percent, you would have known this.

Do not criticize things that are above your intellectual horizon.

[–] DonQuichotte 11 years ago

To be fair: I actually liked the locations.
And on a positive note: The costumes and the makeup were pretty good! The casting (except for Poe) wasn't a failure.

The general plot is "ok", although it needs some major finetuning at many parts and the last scene should have been never filmed.

What really kills this movie are the decisions made by the director and/or producer: A movie about/with Poe should have been much scarier and needs much better writing. I guess the producer just wanted to make an American "Sherlock Holmes". Poe however is not a master detective that solves crimes, but a writer.

As you have pointed out, there is just not ANY red line in this movie. You never actually get, where the emphasis lies: The characters are too weak for a character driven movie. The story has too many "seen-befores" and too many little problems to be a clever or even mindblowing movie. The action is pointless for an actionmovie. Scares are totally missing for horror, it's not even a dark movie, but then again there is plenty of gore....

And what the hell is it about those VanHelsing-like title credit and the X-Men-like end credit?

[–] filmophile-1 11 years ago

OMG, this was soooooooo bad. Everything you said.
John cusack has long held a special place in my mind and heart, and i just refuse to think he would be proud of this work; he has to be so disappointed. I wanted to trace the horror, so i imdb'd the director>> he directed V for Vendetta, for heaven's sake! that was a GOOD film. But ya know what? That film had good WRITERS, the Wachowski siblings. And so who wrote THIS piece of wooden dreck? Man am i sorry to say it- a WOMAN is listed first, and then an actor w/ this his first screenplay. glub glub glub.
I hope those two grow and improve quickly...or "get the hell outta Dodge" because i really don't want to have to remember their names and think thrice before ever seeing another film by them. Shakespeare (can you believe it?) and Livingston, for the record.

[–] By-TorX-1 11 years ago

Not sure how the killer was going to play out the same game with Jules Verne: tell him that his wife will die if he doesn't get around the world in 80 days? Command him to hook up with Captain Nemo? Take a trip to the moon? A bizarre finale to a tedious film. Looking at the the source material (the works of Poe, a malevolent killer, fog-filled gothic streets), the immortal words of Ritchie Cusack to his henchman at the finale of 'A History of Violence' comes to mind.

I sleep now.

[–] Flabrezu 10 years ago

Putting things like 'writing' or 'cinematography' in quotes because you didn't like them makes you look like an idiot.