'THE RAVEN'

'THE RAVEN' (R)(1 1/2 STARS)

Written by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare
Directed by James McTeigue
Actors: John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally

I don't know if it is a good ideal to mix Edgar Allan Poe with a serial killer movie but if it is done like it is in "The Raven" the answer would be no. This is like any serial killer movie you have ever seen and like any period snooze fest you have seen. This is a dull and lifeless movie that I wanted to escape from ever since the 15 minute mark. Let's see there is a little "Sherlock Holmes", a little "V For Vendetta", "Saw" and a dash of "Sleepy Hollow". Oh and add a buried alive subplot lifted from "Kill Bill 2" and "Buried". There is not an original thought in this movie's head and it is painfully ordinary and boring.

John Cusack overacts like I have never seen him do before as Edgar Allan Poe who we first see near death on a park bench. We flashback to a murder case involving a serial killer murdering women. There you go, you can add a little Jack the Ripper that this copycat borrows from. Poe teams up with a detective played by young Luke Evans who gives the only good performance in the movie. Poe's girlfriend is kidnapped and buried alive so the police and townsfolk help Poe in a search party to find her. John Cusack plays Poe like he thinks he is in a Mel Brooks parody or he took the hot tub time machine back to the 1840's. Alice Eve who was hot and sexy in "Crossing Over" is stiff as Poe's girlfriend and I thought if she was buried alive it would be the same as she was really dead.

"The Raven" did not have to be this boring and unneccessary and then I thought this movie should not have been made at all. What a dumb ideal and you will see this when "The Raven" opens at #6 at the box office this weekend. The movie looks great I guess but the story is just lazy and great actors look bad here. When I saw a man tied up and a huge ax being swung above him and slicing him until he was cut in half I knew this movie was going to be an unoriginal turkey. I did love when the police and Poe are looking for Poe's girl and they start shouting her name as they search. "Emily"! "Emily"! I laughed because what did they expect? For her to hear them and then start to shout out "Yes! Yes! This is Alice! I am over here! In the coffin!" Really?


P.S. For a better movie than "The Raven" check out "The 7% Solution" which is better than the terrible "Sherlock Holmes" updates. That is a dark mystery movie with a great Sherlock Holmes in the middle of it.