“It’s been almost nine whole months since I’ve lived in Fenway, but I still know how to maneuver my way around a Red Sox crowd and get to the movies over there in exactly the right amount of time. Srsly, I was quite impressed with myself yesterday. From knowing what time to leave the office to how to find a good spot on the train to walking against the crowd down Brookline, it was all just as clockwork as I’ve come to expect from my selectively OCD self.
As far as the actual movie, part of it seemed promising, part of it made me skeptical. On the promising side, the premise sounded pretty cool, and I knew I’d love the goth feel. On the skeptical side, I really wasn’t so sure about John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe and I could see the very fine line to overly campy and hokey in the not so distant horizon. My verdict is that it ended up somewhere in the middle. The concept was really cool, but the follow thru wasn’t fully thought out. I feel like the writers started putting it together and never quite decided where things were gonna end up. Or rather, they knew where it’d end up, but not exactly how to get there.
Watching the movie, my first thoughts were that I really wish I was much more familiar with Poe’s work. I’ve read Telltale Heart, and I’ve got a passing familiarity with some of his other work, but nowhere near enough to catch any of the references. I dont know if I spaced out at the wrong time, but I still dont entirely get what Poe’s role in the game was (I mean besides the obvious). The killer was recreating his stories, but he also had to write the story? Clearly I missed something. But we certainly reached a point about midway thru when I stopped caring. I didn’t feel knowledgable enough to try and piece together the mystery myself. As someone with a logical an analytical mind, I live for the puzzle. Without it, I’m bored.
At least my fears of a miscast proved to be unfounded. Cusack was pretty unrecognizable, stylistically at least. While he may not have been my first choice for this gothic prince, he took it on quite well. The supporting cast was strong as well, but overall I just see so much unfulfilled potential in this movie.
The Raven – \m/ \m/ \n