Read User Reviews and Submit your own for The Pale Blue Eye

7

TVJerryDec 29, 2022

After a murder takes place at West Point Academy, a nearby detective (Christian Bale) is brought in to investigate. One of the first cadets he interviews is a young Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling, who not only bears a resemblance to theAfter a murder takes place at West Point Academy, a nearby detective (Christian Bale) is brought in to investigate. One of the first cadets he interviews is a young Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling, who not only bears a resemblance to the author but is the movie's standout performance). Director Scott Cooper has turned what could have been a standard murder mystery into a visually stylish procedural revolving around the strained relationship of the 2 men. Additionally, the gorgeous production design and dark, beautiful cinematography give the film a historical atmosphere. While the plot may be a bit convoluted, the production elevates the film to a more stylistic level.… Expand

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

All this user's reviews

6

Badgerryan27Jan 6, 2023

Decent film with an average story but the backdrop is more interesting. The cinematography is great and it makes it look like a type of historical background. Nicely acted but the film isn’t very thrilling or suspenseful as the movie wantsDecent film with an average story but the backdrop is more interesting. The cinematography is great and it makes it look like a type of historical background. Nicely acted but the film isn’t very thrilling or suspenseful as the movie wants you to think. It’s a worthwhile for a one watch.… Expand

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

All this user's reviews

6

UncleWillardJan 6, 2023

Strong performances, excellent production values, and even Poe himself can't save this thriller from the weight of its pretentions. Okay, even the performances were okay. Bale as always is exemplary, but he's the only standout. GillianStrong performances, excellent production values, and even Poe himself can't save this thriller from the weight of its pretentions. Okay, even the performances were okay. Bale as always is exemplary, but he's the only standout. Gillian Anderson was cartoonish and Melling, while somewhat charming, came off like Lt. Barkley foiling his antagonizers in a holodeck play. Lot of very talented, veteran actors sorely underutilized in a mediocre, and at parts goofy plot. I can't really recommend it outside of Bale and the production values.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

All this user's reviews

6

fabittarJan 7, 2023

No spoilers. This movie would’ve been great if they had cut the last 30 minutes. They should’ve stuck to the cookie-cutter plot. The “plot twist” at the very end wasn’t particularly clever, to say the least. 9/10 if you disregard the last 30No spoilers. This movie would’ve been great if they had cut the last 30 minutes. They should’ve stuck to the cookie-cutter plot. The “plot twist” at the very end wasn’t particularly clever, to say the least. 9/10 if you disregard the last 30 mins that almost sort of ruined it.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

All this user's reviews

6

NeedFictionJan 7, 2023

Christian Bale and Harry Melling are good in their roles, and so are the character actors who support them. The cinematography in general is very good, and sometimes stunning, although a bit one note in its either snow or darkness for such aChristian Bale and Harry Melling are good in their roles, and so are the character actors who support them. The cinematography in general is very good, and sometimes stunning, although a bit one note in its either snow or darkness for such a long film. The main thing is this film can't decide if it wants to be a murder mystery or a tragic tear jerker period piece. The ratings, I think, would go up 20% overall if this didn't have the Lord of the Rings curse, where the director really, really, wants to put an extra ending. Literally the core mystery is supposedly solved, and then I realized there was 35 minutes left to go. Would have been better to either just let it end at the first "reveal," or move the other endings up and cut out 20 minutes of cultish ceremony and at times very wordy and silly dialogue that goes nowhere. (Two different characters at different times tell Poe that they just "knew he was the one" for their plot point). Then, some background motivation (without adding spoilers) turns into the main plot at the very end, and it just doesn't work. Overall, only because of the last 30 minutes, the whole film feels out of balance. Just stop the film with 35 minutes left and you'll come back here and give it a 10/10, plus, you will have really enjoyed it!… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

All this user's reviews

8

tjorven13Jan 9, 2023

Fine story, with a 180grade twist, in the end, very likable story.
The filming is very beautifully done, in a dark winter that with the colors of the dresses make it very nice. I would have done 100% the same as the main character if it hadFine story, with a 180grade twist, in the end, very likable story.
The filming is very beautifully done, in a dark winter that with the colors of the dresses make it very nice. I would have done 100% the same as the main character if it had happened to me for sure!… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

All this user's reviews

1

hnestlyontheslyJan 10, 2023

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This lazy adaptation of a novel by the same name is about as complex a murder mystery as a cheese sandwich. It’s the gothic horror equivalent of Patrick Star eating his own chocolate bar. It’s as if Christian Bale (playing a detective who lives basically on the campus of West Point where the crime has occurred) has walked into a phone booth with five of his closest associates and then declared, once the lights have flickered on and off, that he has a theory of the case for who in the city was responsible for bludgeoning one of the people in the booth with a telephone. We get it? It’s one of you? Or all of you? It doesn’t actually matter all that much what the permutation is for your motives, so much as we are surprised by how quickly we arrive upon the murderers without actually putting them away.

There is, of course, the glimmerings of a twist, much in the same vein as See How They Run, in which (SPOILERS), we briefly suspect that either Edgar Allen Poe!! (Oh did I forget to mention that the entire movie hinges on the promise that hte murder is going to be in Poe's aesthetic?) or Landon (Bale) has the means and the motive to have committed some heinous murders, but no matter, once we are in the room with the pentagram and the Latin chanting, it’s fairly clear that even if they are not directly responsible for the murders, our baddies are deserving of some comeuppance.

The cast is stacked for this progressively dumber historical drama: Christian Bale, Gillian Anderson, the omnipresent Harry Melling (of Dudley Dursley fame, Buster Scruggs, Queen’s Gambit, and the upcoming review I’ll do for the erotic? satire? of toxic masculinity? and West Side Story?, Please, Baby, Please), the ever-ready character actors Timothy Spall and Toby Jones, Fred Hechinger of White Lotus Season 1, and Lucy Boynton of Murder on the Orient Express, Sing Street, and Bohemian Rhapsody). My suspicion is that the expectations for this movie were spoiled by two different high water marks in supernatural murder mysteries of late. One, Misha Green’s Lovecraft Country did a great job of taking the aesthetic of Arkham Horror and adapting it to the 1950s with magical realist elements in ways that commented on and critiqued the source material’s most salient issues with race while also generating new avenues for storytelling. Two, Netflix’s Wednesday updated that source material, which shares some of its gothic aesthetic with Edgar Allen Poe, but found ways to breathe new energy and humor into stories that had some near perfect screen adaptations 20 years ago. The Pale Blue Eye isn’t either of those.

In fact, if I were going to give you a place where you can confidently shut off your computer in order to hate the film marginally less than you might, I would say, leave after the burning building. There is nothing for you after that. If you have proceeded beyond that point, you are aware that the film finds a way to include a rape plot in the ninth inning which is neither interesting nor necessary. If that weren’t enough, the rape plot is capped off with a happy, deranged suicide, all of which feel completely out of left field and not in keeping with the themes of the rest of the story. The best parts of Edgar Allen Poe’s work are the supernatural elements, the weird visions and spooky vistations which bleed into the everyday world and darken it with their pall–the way that gothic horror can properly be understood as a reaction to the soaring Romantic landscapes and cluelessly naive pronouncements of the sublime in the supposedly virgin expanse of the American West at this time. The best parts of The Pale Blue Eye are the moments before you realize how small the confines of the mystery in which you’ve been placed.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

All this user's reviews

0

GumdropJan 6, 2023

What a let down. Mostly slow, moving and dull. Lacking the suspense I found myself looking for. The casting and writing of the Poe character was completely wrong. And both the ending and the twist were really anti-climactic.

4 of 10 users found this helpful46

All this user's reviews

10

barillasJan 7, 2023

Good mystery movie, very good acting. Chris Bale is always fantastic. Must see

2 of 6 users found this helpful24

All this user's reviews

8

shoulderoforionJan 8, 2023

I thought The Pale Blue Eye was great fun. Melling is really showing us something here in his portrayal of Edgar Allen Poe, and Bale is his gruff everyman self, which is almost always worth watching. The story is on par from any otherI thought The Pale Blue Eye was great fun. Melling is really showing us something here in his portrayal of Edgar Allen Poe, and Bale is his gruff everyman self, which is almost always worth watching. The story is on par from any other hardboiled private eye mystery, with the added bonus of it being a period piece. I liked it a whole lot more than most others seemed to. Was a nice surprise.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

All this user's reviews

3

MetacriticOnurJan 7, 2023

bad
[ bad ]

adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36.
not good in any manner or degree.
bad
[ bad ]

adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36.
not good in any manner or degree.

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

All this user's reviews

9

rihegJan 8, 2023

Certainly not for the critics because ideology is not the highest priority here. Casting, however, is and the acting is in a class of its own. All in all a good mystery movie. The setting is interesting because I haven’t seen much on theCertainly not for the critics because ideology is not the highest priority here. Casting, however, is and the acting is in a class of its own. All in all a good mystery movie. The setting is interesting because I haven’t seen much on the serious side from this era and location, and the dialogue is excellent and correct for the time. All the way around you can tell it’s pretty high budget, The costumes look great too. There’s a lot to enjoy, but the most important thing in this genre is the writing, and I am satisfied, naturally plot twists is a must and it delivers reasonably well on that front too. I didn’t find it predictable or over-explaining and how refreshingly unwoke that is. Also I think the last 30 minutes set it apart and so while some might find it unnecessary, I quite enjoyed it.… Expand

2 of 9 users found this helpful27

All this user's reviews

9

globalnomadJan 7, 2023

Once upon a midnight dreary / As I pondered, weak and weary / Over many a quaint and curious Netflix file of forgotten lore / I happened upon a strange, new cryptic picture show / Containing plot of Edgar Poe, causing heart to soar / 'TisOnce upon a midnight dreary / As I pondered, weak and weary / Over many a quaint and curious Netflix file of forgotten lore / I happened upon a strange, new cryptic picture show / Containing plot of Edgar Poe, causing heart to soar / 'Tis atmospheric set and dialogue deep / Gothic, great and nothing more / Can one resist Lenore and Poe? / Quoth the raven, nevermore… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

All this user's reviews

10

danny1952Jan 6, 2023

II just saw The Pale Blue Eye and am still moved by Christian Bale's nuanced and captivating performance.

Yes, it's a fascinating "whodunnit", but for me, the linchpin of the film is the spirit of solidarity between two men united by theII just saw The Pale Blue Eye and am still moved by Christian Bale's nuanced and captivating performance.

Yes, it's a fascinating "whodunnit", but for me, the linchpin of the film is the spirit of solidarity between two men united by the loss of a loved one and an investigation into a series of murders. It is almost a father-son relationship that develops between Landor and Poe.

Some critics have criticized the ending of the film, which corresponds perfectly to the ending of Louis Bayard's novel. What did they want the director to do, betray Bayard's novel on which the film is based? Others have said that Christian Bale "faded away" before Melling's stunning performance. These people fail to see the real talent, which is not in the mannerism or extravagance of speech and gesture, which suited Poe well, but in the simple, raw truth of the emotion visibly felt by Bale and evident in every expression on his face and in every vibrant word he speaks about Landor's missing daughter.

For me, this is a film to see again and again, which might help some people better understand what really happened there.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

All this user's reviews

6

bertobellamyJan 7, 2023

Loved the atmosphere and Christian Bale and Harry Melling's acting, but the execution is rather dull. The ending is good — I didn't see THAT twist coming — but the occult plot feels silly. What I would want to see next is a series about HarryLoved the atmosphere and Christian Bale and Harry Melling's acting, but the execution is rather dull. The ending is good — I didn't see THAT twist coming — but the occult plot feels silly. What I would want to see next is a series about Harry Melling's Poe solving macabre crimes.… Expand