The Pale Blue Eye Movie Review
“Set up as an 1830s gothic-style mash-up, this film presents itself as a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery/thriller by way of Edgar Alan Poe…Sadly, the film's writer missed the mark.”
When initially presented with the premise of 'The Pale Blue Eye,' I was enthralled. Set up as an 1830s gothic-style mash-up; this film presents itself as a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery/thriller by way of Edgar Alan Poe, who makes a prominent appearance as a principal character throughout the film. Couple that with Christian Bale as your leading star (not portraying Poe), and you're set up for blockbuster success!
Sadly, the film's writer missed the mark. With a run time of 130 minutes, I found myself, at the end of the film, not knowing who anyone was besides Poe and our main protagonist Landor. Beyond that, the film commits the number one unforgivable sin of the mystery genre: create a plot that your audience cannot solve themselves.
The mark of a great mystery film is that you present your audience with all of the evidence necessary to solve the mystery themselves. From the perspective of Film, a decidedly visual medium, we have no excuse for not presenting our audience with all the necessary information. Nevertheless, 'The Pale Blue Eye' drives us through plot point after plot point, forsaking the art of 'storytelling' nearly altogether until you arrive at an obvious climax that anyone should have seen coming. Then, in your final moments of victorious revelation, where we should be seeing our characters pick up the pieces in their lives, we are given a nearly 10-minute scene of exposition about the undergirding mystery that we, as the audience, had no hope of solving or even knowing was there due to zero time spent alluding to it.
Ultimately, were it not for the intrigue surrounding the premise of an Edgar Allen Poe mystery and the admittedly excellent performance delivered by Harry Melling (playing Poe) 'The Pale Blue Eye' would have been a masterclass in how not to write mystery tied with a bow made of fancy language and a moody atmosphere. As it stands, the movie is worth watching once but is doubtful to be remembered much past the summer of this year.
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