Those movie-goers unfamiliar with the notorious American author Edgar Allan Poe and his death, needn’t worry about whether or not it will be easy to follow along in “The Raven.” The film mixes in a good number of Poe’s works into the story, but they are all very recognizable by name for anyone who has paid even the least amount of attention in their high school English classes.

Poe is played by John Cusack, who, oftentimes, seems unsure whether he is in a biopic or a by-the-numbers mystery film. Unfortunately, it is the latter. The story features a mystery serial killer reenacting a number of Poe’s works. The police force and lead detective, played by Luke Evans, enlists the help of Poe as a consultant to the case.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the film is that it fails to make Poe a suitable hero. From the first time he is shown making his less-than-grand entrance into a pub, he is a man who is a drunk, arrogant, self-absorbed jackass who probably wouldn’t fly as an anti-hero. While the film does attempt to show the reason for Poe’s horrible attitude, it never gives the viewer a reason to root for him other than an uninspired attempt at creating a damsel-in-distress situation from a fictional love story.

The film was directed by the stylistic James McTeigue, whose other two films were 2006’s “V for Vendetta” and more recently “Ninja Assassin” in 2009. While the film is nice to look at in some parts and downright beautiful in others, it still maintains an all-too-familiar feeling about it, as if it is attempting to ride on the success of another famous literary figure who has received a couple of blockbuster films of his own in the last few years.

Despite these faults in likeability and issues in some uneven acting, the film is still able to maintain a coherent feeling until around the third act, where the plot gets quite muddled.

While it certainly isn’t the best film I’ve seen this year, it is entertaining and worth a watch as the only film we’ll probably ever see about the famed author. In other hands, the film might have been able to come out as an interesting examination of the possibilities surrounding the mysterious death of Poe, but that is not the case. See it if you don’t have to pay more than the cost of a rental, but don’t try to think about it too much because it will leave you utterly confused.