Veteran detective Augustus Landor investigates a series of grisly murders with the help of a young cadet who will eventually go on to become the world-famous author Edgar Allan Poe.
Christian Bale, Scott Cooper, Tyler Thompson, and John Lesher
As someones whos never read the novel, this is my first introduction to "The Pale Blue Eye". As expected Christian Bale gives a great performances and there are some good moments in the story, but overall the story is what fails this film the most.
A quite overstuffed plot that fails over and over again to draw you in. Landor and Poe have a good chemistry but the role of Edgar Allan Poe felt very over the top. Its constantly reminded to you that he's a poet and focuses more on who he's going to be that who he is in the moment. The overall murder mystery part is... alright. there's some aspects that work and some that feel forced, especially closer to the end.
The only draw to this movie is Christian Bale. It's fun to see him play a detective and he really does give a great performance. As you learn more of not just the murderers but his story, his character gets a lot more interesting and deep. He definitely shines the most at the end when all is revealed which for me was the most captivating and interesting part of the plot. Even though he is amazing, there's just a lot of this film that he can't carry on his back.
Harry Melling really does try his best, but i feel at the end of the day the script fails him most. His motivations are so plain and it's hard to actually care about his character. The rest of the cats is fine and surprisingly Toby Jones is better than almost all of them.
At the end of the day, this film had its chance to be great but just falls short. There's not really one person to blame but as a collective whole the film wasn't what it needed to be. color grading and directing was subpar with overall plain performances from some great actors.
