VERY, VERY MILD SPOILERS.
It's a good movie. "The Raven" takes a little while to get going, but the film has some very strong characteristics and the last half is excellent.
My guess is that the majority of negative reviews will harp on the films slow first 35-40 minutes, or about some historical inaccuracies(I always hate those nitpickers on the historical accuracy of subjects of which I wouldn't know what was historically accurate or not - so who cares right?) I went to see the film with my mother, step-father, and my wife. I should note: while we only gave the film a 7/10 as a group - a huge portion of the audience actually applauded at the end of a film. You don't see that very often nowadays, so I thought it was noteworthy.
There wasn't much to choose from when I looked in the paper Friday morning, and seeing how I'm the family movie-buff, I was entrusted to make the final decision on the movie.
Now, I wasn't dying to see this, but stacked up against options like "American Reunion", "Safe", and other "gambles in my mind"; I thought going with Cusack and the director of "V for Vendetta" was the safest bet. Had I been on my own - I would have had trouble picking between "The Raven" and "American Reunion". I like Stathom, but had heard some negative reviews on "Safe". I also knew that I would ultimately see it as a rental.
"The Raven" is in the vein of "From Hell", or "Sleepy Hollow", and probably towards the latter in terms of quality.
John Cusack is FANTASTIC as Poe, a smart, witty, drunk that prints macabre tales, but otherwise seems like a pretty nice guy. When a series of killings turn out to be re-enactments of his previous work - he is instantly a suspect.
Brendan Gleeson is good(as always) as the father of Cusack's love interest, Alice Eve, and another noteworthy performance comes from Luke Evans as the detective assigned to the case.
The last half of the film moves at a nice pace compared to the first half, and the audience is really drawn in to root for Poe's character.
The style and direction are sharp, and there isn't much to criticize in terms of quality here - this is/was a nice production.
The few grotesque scenes are very effective. Kudo's go out to the computer imaging and make-up teams for making this look extremely real.
I was a bit surprised to see this ranked at 6.8 - even though that's really close to what my group rated the film. I suspect it has probably bottomed-out here. I don't expect it to go any lower. This film should hover around 7.0 by the time all is said and done.
Even though I haven't seen the other films at the theater - I have the feeling this is probably one of the best options(if not the best) for a trip to the movies this weekend. It's definitely the best option for the "adult" crowd.
Nice to see an effective film that didn't need to rely on a bunch of T&A, Mass-killings(there's only about 6 or 7 here), or over-blown CGI. I enjoyed it. It might even be worth buying and adding to the collection down the road.
73/100
You'll like this if you liked:From Hell(not as good as this), Sleepy Hollow(about even with this, or call me crazy I might have enjoyed The Raven a touch more!), Ninth Gate(not as good), or The Prestige(a little better).
Welcome back John Cusack. Perhaps his strongest performance since 1990's "The Grifters", or at least 2000's "High Fidelity".
Recommended!
It's a good movie. "The Raven" takes a little while to get going, but the film has some very strong characteristics and the last half is excellent.
My guess is that the majority of negative reviews will harp on the films slow first 35-40 minutes, or about some historical inaccuracies(I always hate those nitpickers on the historical accuracy of subjects of which I wouldn't know what was historically accurate or not - so who cares right?) I went to see the film with my mother, step-father, and my wife. I should note: while we only gave the film a 7/10 as a group - a huge portion of the audience actually applauded at the end of a film. You don't see that very often nowadays, so I thought it was noteworthy.
There wasn't much to choose from when I looked in the paper Friday morning, and seeing how I'm the family movie-buff, I was entrusted to make the final decision on the movie.
Now, I wasn't dying to see this, but stacked up against options like "American Reunion", "Safe", and other "gambles in my mind"; I thought going with Cusack and the director of "V for Vendetta" was the safest bet. Had I been on my own - I would have had trouble picking between "The Raven" and "American Reunion". I like Stathom, but had heard some negative reviews on "Safe". I also knew that I would ultimately see it as a rental.
"The Raven" is in the vein of "From Hell", or "Sleepy Hollow", and probably towards the latter in terms of quality.
John Cusack is FANTASTIC as Poe, a smart, witty, drunk that prints macabre tales, but otherwise seems like a pretty nice guy. When a series of killings turn out to be re-enactments of his previous work - he is instantly a suspect.
Brendan Gleeson is good(as always) as the father of Cusack's love interest, Alice Eve, and another noteworthy performance comes from Luke Evans as the detective assigned to the case.
The last half of the film moves at a nice pace compared to the first half, and the audience is really drawn in to root for Poe's character.
The style and direction are sharp, and there isn't much to criticize in terms of quality here - this is/was a nice production.
The few grotesque scenes are very effective. Kudo's go out to the computer imaging and make-up teams for making this look extremely real.
I was a bit surprised to see this ranked at 6.8 - even though that's really close to what my group rated the film. I suspect it has probably bottomed-out here. I don't expect it to go any lower. This film should hover around 7.0 by the time all is said and done.
Even though I haven't seen the other films at the theater - I have the feeling this is probably one of the best options(if not the best) for a trip to the movies this weekend. It's definitely the best option for the "adult" crowd.
Nice to see an effective film that didn't need to rely on a bunch of T&A, Mass-killings(there's only about 6 or 7 here), or over-blown CGI. I enjoyed it. It might even be worth buying and adding to the collection down the road.
73/100
You'll like this if you liked:From Hell(not as good as this), Sleepy Hollow(about even with this, or call me crazy I might have enjoyed The Raven a touch more!), Ninth Gate(not as good), or The Prestige(a little better).
Welcome back John Cusack. Perhaps his strongest performance since 1990's "The Grifters", or at least 2000's "High Fidelity".
Recommended!