THE RAVEN spins quite a yarn around the last days of author Edgar Allen Poe, turning him from morose author into an admittedly literate action hero.
Poe is on his last legs and his last dollars when a serial killer starts slaying people by recreating scenes from Poe's most famous horror novels. He quickly becomes part of the investigation by partnering with Detective Fields (a great Luke Evans) to track down the murderer. John Cusack is playing WAY out of his typical comfort zone as the tortured author and I found it really hard to connect with him in the role. For the first 45 minutes of The Raven, I was thinking "Nevermore!" but it definitely grew on me and got better in its last half. A strong supporting cast, including Alice Eve as Poe's fiance Emily and Brandon Gleeson as her father really help the film finds its footing in the last half. The murders are gruesome, the exposition is talky but the story and Cusack grow on you. The Raven lands a B-.
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