View Single Post
  #60402  
Old 6th March 2023, 08:24 PM
J Harker's Avatar
J Harker J Harker is offline
Cult Addict
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Deepest Darkest South Wales
Default

The Pale Blue Eye. Scott Cooper. 2022.

Even while watching this last night I was composing a review in my head. It started with the words "A disappointing gothic thriller....". However I find myself just not able to open on that, as today I've been thinking a lot about the film.
Christian Bale plays a retired police detective, highly esteemed but with a reputation for the drink. When a cadet is found hanged at the prestigious West Point Military Academy Bale's world weary sleuth Augustus Landor is enlisted to help protect the reputation of the Academy. Worse still the cadet has also found to have been horribly mutilated. At the Academy Landor is recieved coldly with the cadets unwilling to talk and those in power reluctant at having to resort to calling in an outsider.
Landor meets and subsequently teams up with a young cadet who the world will one day come to know as Edgar Allan Poe. Together they go about piecing together the goings on at this secretive institute.
Christian Bale is a fine actor but there's not that much to be said about this performance (or is there...) but its partner is crime solving Harry Melling that stole the show for me, his portrayal of the famous poet and literary genius in his younger years is just superb. At once awkward and at odds with society but simultaneously wonderfully confident and at home in his own skin.
The film I have to admit is slow, at times painfully so. In fact I nodded off at one point last night, there's an awful lot of brooding going on. Bale staring miserably into the shadows and so on. However and I don't want to say too much but I wonder if a second viewing will make a difference to not just how I perceive the film but also the characters.
The wintry chilly snowy setting is very atmospheric but my biggest issue was sadly the slow slow pace. I've nothing against slow films especially when they're rewarding. The Pale Blue Eye is actually rather rewarding but it was a bit of slog getting there.
I'd recommend but be prepared to be patient.


Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

Last edited by J Harker; 6th March 2023 at 08:42 PM.
Reply With Quote