The Pale Blue Eye – Movie Review
Director: Scott Cooper
Writer: Scott Cooper (Screenplay)
Writer: Louis Bayard (Book)
Cast
- Christan Bale (The Dark Knight)
- Harry Melling (Say Your Prayers)
- Simon McBurney (Wolfwalkers)
- Timothy Spall (The Last Bus)
- Toby Jones (Empire of Light)
Plot: A world-weary detective is hired to investigate the murder of a West Point cadet. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, he enlists one of their own to help unravel the case – a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allan Poe.
Runtime: 2 Hours 8 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Pale Blue Eye starts when a world-weary detective Augustus Landor (Bale) is summoned to West Point. He is requested to help investigate a cadet’s murder in a notoriously silent group of cadets. As Augustus dives into the investigation, he gets to meet the members of West Point.
Augustus teams up with a young cadet Edgar Allan Poe (Melling) to help him connect with the cadets. With the cadets being questioned, Augustus turns to the authority figures, including Dr Daniel Marquis (Jones), Superintendent Thayer (Spall) and Captain Hitchcock (McBurney). This leads to a much darker truth that Augustus wasn’t expecting.
Verdict on The Pale Blue Eye
Characters
Augustus Landor is a world-weary detective, a widow that lives with the pain of losing his family. He gets requested to help with an investigation at West Point after a violent murder. Augustus must use his skills to navigate the regimented world in search of answers. His past gives him a reputation for getting the job done but also pushing people the wrong way. He likes a drink and is ordered to stop for the case. Augustus seems to spend mst of the story on the outside looking in.
Cadet Edgar Allan Poe is an outsider and a man that Augustus turns to for inside information. He connects with him and uses his chance and intelligence to get information. However, he can’t be overlooked as a potential suspect because of his position within the camp.
Dr Daniel Marquis explains the injuries and uses his judgment to claim who could be behind the murder. He is exposed for not getting all the facts correct. Daniel is the one that must be trusted before the investigation, as he is the only one, they can trust about the injury information.
In the supporting cast, we get a host of potential suspects. Each member of West Point could bring more clues with the authority figures demanding it done quickly.
Performances
Christian Bale is great as we would come to expect from him, he makes his character feel like a true outsider in the military world. The supporting cast is great too, with Harry Melling continuing his post-Harry Potter rise. Toby Jones and Timothy Spall get to shine in supporting roles too.
Story
The story follows a detective who is requested to help at West Point after a graphically violent murder. He must get to know the cadets and authority during his investigation as he tries to understand such a graphic murder. This sees him trying to understand motivation despite clashing with most of the men on the base.
The Pale Blue Eyes looks to bring us a dark murder investigation. It does take a while to get going, even if the conclusion is more surprising than anything else. This dives into nearly every step you would imagine and ends up leaving us wanting more from the bigger case. It feels more forced to throw in the character Edgar Allan Poe, as a symbol for the time and a poet known for dealing with the unexplained.
Where to Watch: The Pale Blue Eye is available on Netflix.
Final Thoughts –The Pale Blue Eye is an interesting mystery but does lack the intensity of what is going on.