44
Metascore
30 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThe Raven is period piece fun - at least until it realizes there has to be a conclusion. That's where a certain amount of inevitable disappointment sets in. The curse of the two-hour murder mystery is that the ending never seems to justify the build-up.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt runs out of steam in the final 10 minutes, but there's some gruesome drama and Cusack is on decent form.
- 58The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonPoe was a flawed figure, but his greatest strength was in avoiding convention, or reinterpreting it to create something new. The Raven aspires to both, but abandons those ambitions to lie limply on the floor - only this, and nothing more.
- 50Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallTampa Bay TimesSteve PersallThe Raven isn't nearly as much fun as it should be.
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWhen I heard that John Cusack had been cast for this film, it sounded like good news: I could imagine him as Poe, tortured and brilliant, lashing out at a cruel world. But that isn't the historical Poe the movie has in mind. It is a melodramatic Poe, calling for the gifts of Nicolas Cage.
- 50Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsThe Raven squanders a promising scenario while half-burying Cusack's mercurial skills as a leading man with the wiles of a character actor.
- 40EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanBesides being an author, Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most vicious, merciless critics of his age. He would not have let this get past him without skewering its shortcomings with a barbed quill.
- 40VarietyLeslie FelperinVarietyLeslie FelperinThe Raven is a squawking, silly picture that never takes flight.
- 40Total FilmNeil SmithTotal FilmNeil SmithAs implausible as the stars' gleaming choppers.
- 20New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThis wannabe Sherlockian thriller is like a night spent at Madame Tussauds, watching mannequins strangle other mannequins.