The Pale Blue Eye is a period mystery, based on the novel of the same name, about a retired detective Landor(Christian Bale) who is hired to investigate an incident at West Point. A cadet has been hanged, at first thought to be a suicide then determined a murder when post-mortem his heart was surreptitiously removed. Landor meets and begins to work with a young Edgar Allen Poe(Harry Melling), a cadet.
Bale brings his signature commitment and presence and, until the third act, it's wonderful. He's reserved, layered, and the handful of deductive sequences are really fun. Melling is the real stand out bringing an absolutely electric loquaciousness and heart to the role. Whether the accent or the manner is accurate who knows but he channels the famous poet with alacrity. The two have great chemistry and it's a shame that is not the focus instead, as it progresses, the movie gets caught up in it's convoluted relatively uninspired plotting. The supporting cast are all decent but most are thinly drawn, only Landor and Poe having any real dimension.
Visually stunning, there is a lush dark gothic period quality to it that is absolutely spot on. The costumes are great, the score subtle and haunting. The issue is simply the script, whether in an attempt to be faithful to the source material, truncating it for the screen, or just lack of imagination the movie seems to misunderstand what about this is interesting and gets caught up in pointless red herrings, a truly dumb final "reveal", and a regressive use of sexual assault as a motivator. It's not terrible just disappointing.
A stupendous Melling and a solid Bale can't prevent the plot from self destruction.
Currently streaming on Netflix.
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