The Pale Blue Eye (B or 3/4 stars)
'The Pale Blue Eye' (directed by Scott Cooper, based on a 2003 novel) is an icy cold murder mystery set in 1830 at upstate N.Y.'s West Point Military Academy. The title is taken from Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart". In the early hours of a somber winter morning, a young cadet is found hanging in the Hudson Highlands. But after the body arrives at the nearby morgue, death becomes savagery, as it is clear that this man has been murdered; his heart has been skillfully removed. Fearing damage to the emergent military academy's reputation, its nervy leaders, Capt. Hitchcock & Col. Thayer (Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall) turn to reclusive, widowed detective, Augustus Landor (Christian Bale), to solve the grisly murder.
Landor is hired because he gets results, even if he is tormented by his own personal demons, and is a drunk. Frustrated by the cadets' code of silence, he's able to enlist the help of one of them; a pallid, off-beat poet with interest in the macabre, & who shows disdain for the demands of the military. His name: Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling). Augustus Landor also becomes involved with a local barmaid (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who fills him in on tangential, but pertinent details related to the case. Soon thereafter, more cadets end up dead, & animals are found slaughtered with THEIR hearts missing -- looks like a serial killer is afoot.
The investigation takes a turn now and, Landor has to hone his detective skills to the max. Further queries follow, including: Dr. Marquis (Toby Jones), who is married to eccentric socialite, Julia (Gillian Anderson); and their 2 children: arrogant cadet, Artemus (Harry Lawtey) & sickly daughter, Lea (Lucy Boynton), whom foolhardy Poe is secretly courting. Landor also visits an old friend (good 'ole Robert Duvall); an expert on satanic rituals & the occult. The case is slow-going, but what they eventually uncover is much darker than anyone could have imagined. Subsequent deaths & twists ensue.
I love stories that entail gothic murder mystery/police procedurals from this particular time & place {one of my favorite films of all-time is 1999's Sleepy Hollow}. This film does not have the same directorial panache, but they are 'like' films in mood. 'The Pale Blue Eye' contains a stellar cast, a few eye-opening twists, & that enticingly eerie wintry atmosphere that I love so very much {you know ... taverns lit by flickering candles, long shadows cast on creepy, snow-driven landscapes, etc}. Unfortunately, something about this period mystery is lacking and, it even has some flaws in logic. This movie also isn't the type of mystery that views will be able to solve; it is too emotionally labyrinthine to make sense of what actually happens; it's not clue-oriented like a Murder on the Orient Express or a Death on the Nile. And so, the focus is on the doom & gloom, the character interactions, and the acting, itself.
Harry Melling is great as the blabbering-but-cunning weirdo Poe, who complements Christian Bale's dispirited, tormented, yet obsessive detective. Gillian Anderson goes BIG as Julia, the oddball wife of the school doctor. Really, everyone in the cast plays their roles perfectly. Director Cooper casts a slow-burn, eerie spell. I dug it as a dark, brooding affair. But as I mentioned above, a few preposterous things occur and, not everything that unfolds in the story is narratively interesting. There is a twist that occurs with 30 min. left that left my mouth agape. That said, how the movie 'wraps up' is just a touch underwhelming. So while it ultimately didn't enthrall me, I did enjoy this atmospheric, diverting procedural as it unfolded.
Landor is hired because he gets results, even if he is tormented by his own personal demons, and is a drunk. Frustrated by the cadets' code of silence, he's able to enlist the help of one of them; a pallid, off-beat poet with interest in the macabre, & who shows disdain for the demands of the military. His name: Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling). Augustus Landor also becomes involved with a local barmaid (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who fills him in on tangential, but pertinent details related to the case. Soon thereafter, more cadets end up dead, & animals are found slaughtered with THEIR hearts missing -- looks like a serial killer is afoot.
The investigation takes a turn now and, Landor has to hone his detective skills to the max. Further queries follow, including: Dr. Marquis (Toby Jones), who is married to eccentric socialite, Julia (Gillian Anderson); and their 2 children: arrogant cadet, Artemus (Harry Lawtey) & sickly daughter, Lea (Lucy Boynton), whom foolhardy Poe is secretly courting. Landor also visits an old friend (good 'ole Robert Duvall); an expert on satanic rituals & the occult. The case is slow-going, but what they eventually uncover is much darker than anyone could have imagined. Subsequent deaths & twists ensue.
I love stories that entail gothic murder mystery/police procedurals from this particular time & place {one of my favorite films of all-time is 1999's Sleepy Hollow}. This film does not have the same directorial panache, but they are 'like' films in mood. 'The Pale Blue Eye' contains a stellar cast, a few eye-opening twists, & that enticingly eerie wintry atmosphere that I love so very much {you know ... taverns lit by flickering candles, long shadows cast on creepy, snow-driven landscapes, etc}. Unfortunately, something about this period mystery is lacking and, it even has some flaws in logic. This movie also isn't the type of mystery that views will be able to solve; it is too emotionally labyrinthine to make sense of what actually happens; it's not clue-oriented like a Murder on the Orient Express or a Death on the Nile. And so, the focus is on the doom & gloom, the character interactions, and the acting, itself.
Harry Melling is great as the blabbering-but-cunning weirdo Poe, who complements Christian Bale's dispirited, tormented, yet obsessive detective. Gillian Anderson goes BIG as Julia, the oddball wife of the school doctor. Really, everyone in the cast plays their roles perfectly. Director Cooper casts a slow-burn, eerie spell. I dug it as a dark, brooding affair. But as I mentioned above, a few preposterous things occur and, not everything that unfolds in the story is narratively interesting. There is a twist that occurs with 30 min. left that left my mouth agape. That said, how the movie 'wraps up' is just a touch underwhelming. So while it ultimately didn't enthrall me, I did enjoy this atmospheric, diverting procedural as it unfolded.