February 28th: The Pale Blue Eye

Batman went back in time to work with Dudley Dursley

The Pale Blue Eye

Released: 2022

Directed by: Scott Cooper

Starring: Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton

Edgar Allan Poe is a fascinating historical figure. He was a polymath. A great writer. A critic. A soldier. A multilinguist. A speaker. And much more. He was more than the gothic alcoholic writer who was a sad sack and died young. This film uses this remarkable person as a part of a fictional murder mystery set in 1830.

Harry Melling, who I just recently watched in The Tragedy of MacBeth, plays Poe. I honestly think he knocks it out of the park, even if his accent is a little too Virginia rather than Baltimore. He plays Poe as a quietly brilliant writer who leaps at the opportunity to help Detective Landor, played by Christian Bale. Bale also gives his normal fantastic performance. A brilliant investigator with a painful and dark past.

The mystery itself is interesting. Involving murdered cadets and potentially some supernatural witchery. There are twists and turns, but even with very good performances the downcast nature of the story does sap some of the energy of the film.

Small Observations:

• It’s interesting how so many of the actors in this movie about the American military has almost all British actors. Both the protagonists. Then also Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, Toby Jones and Lucy Boynton.
• Robert Duvall, the late, great actor, has a very small role as a symbologist Landor knows. Low key but great work.
• MCU actors: 2 or 3 if we count the Spider spinoffs

Overall Rank: A

A very good mystery film. Loses a little vitality as the film goes on. But excellent performances, particularly by Bale and Melling really carry this film. Recommended.