Posted by: Bradley Redder
I don't know if it's a sign of a dull film or of this blog being comprised of two incredibly astute viewers that we both came away with an almost identical dislike of this sorry piece of shit. I notice that both of our reviews hit on all of the same points; mine originally even contained mention of that outrageous utterance of "Nevermore" by Poe himself at the costume ball. What a ridiculous moment! But perhaps one that should have been replicated throughout. Think of how much fun this could have been had we seen Poe just walking around shamelessly quoting his most macabre lines in ordinary conversation: "Villains! Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the planks! Here, here! It is the beating of... little Timmy's tambourine. I borrowed it last week and forgot to give it back. Sorry."
If I had to pick out what the biggest problem with The Raven was, after much deliberation I think I would say inconsistency of tone. You are right when you say this had the potential to be fun; I thought the same thing. It's really not a bad premise, but McTeigue just doesn't really know what to do with it. The murder scenes are handled in radically different ways, sometimes gravely, like the opening double murder, which actually brought some legitimate thrills. But then you get scenes like the pendulum murder, which are so over-the-top and cartoonish they couldn't possibly be taken seriously at all. And the reactions to these murders, the pendulum one in particular, were just as erratic: The guy identifying the bloody, halved body of the victim is vomiting when he enters the room, and by the time he is leaving a few minutes later looks like he's wondering which toppings he should get on his pizza.
If only McTeigue had settled on a cheesy approach, all of this could have been great. All of the schlocky silliness could have been right at home. Then when we got to the end and the killer is getting away on horseback, leaving behind a horse and a dozen policemen, I would have been laughing with the film when the wounded lead detective tells Poe to ride after him. Not any of the able policemen... Poe. The alcoholic writer. Horrible.
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