The Pale Blue Eye

The story of a movie is definitely the most important thing in all its factors and elements. If a story is well used, everything will depend on the director to obtain a final product worthy of being remembered outside the year of release. This movie has a wonderful story. It is a period mystery that gives us the participation of a popular real writer as one of the key pieces within the pavilion of fictional characters. Mystery, drama, thriller carried out impeccably by a luxury cast. Christian Bale and Harry Melling are extraordinary. The photography is very well done, taking advantage of the elements of the time portrayed. Excellent setting and visual and special effects.

A great movie that gives 2023 a very good start.

Reminds me of Tim Burton's The legend of Sleepy Hallow. Its not as dark and scary as Burton's movie , but it is somehow more mature and realistic science wise. Great cinematic appeal , what makes it beautiful is this chilly, gothic lonely and at times frozen in time scenery which is breathtaking in this movie. No fake Green studious or design sets and obvious film stages, its all real nature with rich scenes. Its a A dark mystery that cuts deep, and leaves you empty once you understand the painful ending. Bale did good , getting old with his skills but he delivers. All in all this movie is worth two hours of your time.

1830 and Detective Landor (Christian Bale) is summoned to the West Point academy to investigate the apparent suicide by hanging of a cadet, whose body was then subsequently mutilated. Unable to get much information from the closed shop academy, he enlists the help of a solitary cadet, one Edgar Allan Poe. Together they start to realise that this did not start with a suicide.

Enjoyable who and why dunnit mystery thriller set against the beautiful scenery and equally beautifully filmed backdrop of snow covered New York. Bale is convincing as the tough, canny detective haunted by the death of his wife and the disappearance of his daughter. Harry Melling as a truly eccentric Poe is also on good form delivering a performance just this side of over the top. Carrying this through with equal weight is the glorious supporting cast including Timothy Small as the camp commander, Simon McBurney cast against type as the tough Captain who isn't that keen on Landor being there, the great Toby Jones as the camp doctor, Robert Duvall as an eccentric expert that Bale consults and Gillian Anderson who can do no wrong in anything she does. A good, atmospheric and linear thriller then which should keep you guessing, although the coincidences in play as the story comes to a nonetheless satisfying conclusion are a bit of a stretch. Definitely worth catching.

Not an extraordinary detective, but a really solid one.

The good; director Scott Cooper is a craftsman at building up suspense. In many scenes where seemingly nothing much happens, there is still that AIR OF EERY SUSPENSE. That feeling under my skin that something is about to happen.

A mysterious, eery feeling permeates throughout this entire, mesmirizing story. And it gets more intense and mysterious towards the final...

More good: Christian Bale, Christian Bale, Christian Bale. One of my favorite actors and he has got the gift of method acting. He becomes the part. He is the part. And it is such a joy to watch him perform this role in such a way that it mesmirized me from start till finish...

Any bad? This movie starts out quite slow, but the tension and suspense, slowly but steadily, build up until the very fascinating end. So have some patience and you will be rewarded by a solidly made detective.

This movie kept me hooked from the very beginning to the last scene. The atmosphere is mind-blowing, especially when watched during a winter night. The costumes felt very authentic and the cast did amazing job, especially Christian Bale as a detective and Harry Melling (who has become one of my favorite actors) as Edgar Allan Poe.

Another thing I must mention is the screenplay. The writers do not exaggerate the info-dumping and let the on-screen actions tell the story instead, which felt very natural. Some may complain about the runtime or the movie being boring. But although the opening is slow, it was necessary to build up the characters and establish a brilliantly twisted climax.

To me, "The Pale Blue Eye" seemed better than most other films of this genre that are being made by Hollywood these days.

Overall, I spent an enjoyable 2 hours and would recommend to anyone who is looking for a decent murder-mystery movie.