Directed By Scott Cooper

Starring – Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Toby Jones

The Plot – West Point, 1830. In the early hours of a gray winter morning, a cadet is found dead. But after the body arrives at the morgue, tragedy becomes savagery when it’s discovered that the young man’s heart has been skillfully removed. Fearing irreparable damage to the fledgling military academy, its leaders turn to a local detective, Augustus Landor (Bale), to solve the murder. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, Landor enlists the help of one of their own to pursue the case, an eccentric cadet with a disdain for the rigors of the military and a penchant for poetry, a young man named Edgar Allan Poe (Melling).

Rated R for some violent content and bloody images

The Pale Blue Eye | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube

POSITIVES

Murder mysteries have been all of the craze lately, thanks in part to films like “Knives Out” or “Murder on the Orient Express” making them relevant again, but there’s something atmospherically enticing about “The Pale Blue Eye” that not only allows it to stand out on original merits of its own, pertaining to the storytelling, but also inscribes a thick and foreboding element of dread that plays all the more fluently towards the mysterious events surrounding this murder. This mostly falls on the directing merits of Cooper, who once again relishes in the gothic grandeur of the 19th century to flesh out an occasion that flourishes in spades for the movie’s production values. Everything from the costume designs to the coldly damp exteriors and candlelight interior luminescence of the cinematography, to the set decoration embellishes in this timely aspect, bringing with it a richness in textured believability that shines all the more cohesively within the context of the established time frame in tow. On top of this, the film feels like a faithful adaptation from literary to cinema, in that it incorporates the unique opportunity of living through a real-life character but persisting through a story that is entirely fictional. Because this film contains Edgar Allen Poe, a real-life 19th century poet shrouded in mystery, the storytelling surrounding him is free with embellishment, but respectfully the kind that I truly feel Poe himself would’ve appreciated. In particular, the dynamic between he and Bale’s Landor, two polar opposite wild cards shunned by society, who come together to balance what each of them lacks. For Poe, he supplants a cerebral sense of knowledge to the suspects and their cryptic movements, but for Landor, it’s the meaning of clues that he’s able to capably decipher, carving out for each of them a necessity with its own abundance of chemistry between the respective actors. Bale once again proves his versatility and corresponding depth that he brings to his respective characters, churning out a vulnerability and longing for Landor that deem him perfect for the typically flawed protagonist, and Melling’s spin on Poe brings all of the familiarity of the poet’s strangely bizarre personality, but this time with a helping of heart and humanity that we don’t often associate in the historical relevance of the dark and foreboding poet. But none of these are as vital to the integrity of the film as the mystery itself, and to that I can also say that it’s mostly positive returns, despite some convoluted sentiments that strain the third act reveals, without downright obscuring their clarity. For this story, the developments value every single minute of the two-hour run time, sifting through a variety of characters and motives that easily influence the direction of the investigation, but the kind that still made the eventual reveal all the more satisfying in the unpredictable climax that it continuously shouldered so cleverly.

NEGATIVES

Most problematic here are Cooper’s abilities as a screenwriter, which feel strained when held simultaneously with his responsibilities as the movie’s directing force. Because of such, the film isn’t confusing, but rather convoluted, wearing itself thin by introducing and following through on so many corresponding subplots that continuously take away from the urgency of the narrative as a result. For my money, the film is never even remotely as intriguing as when Landor and Poe are attempting to solve the mystery before them, sharing time with Poe’s emerging love life or Landor’s torturous familial past, which while they do influence and prescribe stakes to the complexion of the shape-shifting narrative, simply devalue the mystery in ways that deliberately rob time from their development. In addition to this, Cooper’s directing capabilities are firmly executed positively throughout, but one element that I wish was more refined is the tonal consistency, which occasionally saturates its gloomy appeal with a series of quirky introductions to one particular character that could’ve easily gone south quickly. I’m of course talking about Poe, whose initial engagements carry with them a quirky resonance that is made all the worse by a musical score that vibrantly echoes such sentiments, bringing a few key moments within the first act that made me feel like this film could’ve transitioned into a buddy cop comedy at any point. Levity in dramatic films can be an appreciated tool if used accordingly, but when it leads to distracting instances that feel borrowed from an entirely different film, it deconstructs more than it enriches, leading to a few too many routes of tonal escapism that I wish were omitted all together from the finished product. Finally, the performances themselves are mostly spellbinding, especially from Bale and Melling, who are brilliant, however it pains me to say that the work from Gillian Anderson falls a bit flat with the cartoonish emphasis that dominates her consistency. To be fair, Anderson herself is a terrific actress, historically, with a laundry list of positive returns that have influenced her reputation, but something with her direction and command here feels far too distracting to come across as natural, in turn beckoning these surreal scenes that feel too bold to feel anything but fantastical.

OVERALL
“The Pale Blue Eye” is an occasionally flawed, but atmospherically rich installment to the stacking murder mystery subgenre, which has flourished remarkably over the last decade. With a duo of scintillating turns from Bale and Melling, as well as Cooper’s intimate eye for spell-binding detail, the film is able to allude the problematic instances of tonal and creative convolution with a Gothically gloomy whodunnit? that feels right at home within the coldest confines of Poe’s death-obsessed heart.

My Grade: 7/10 or B-