Upon first viewing, Scott Cooper’s film The Pale Blue Eye, which received its worldwide premiere through Netflix on Jan. 6th, appears to summon cinematic elements from the frost-bitten terrains of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant and the vast woodlands of Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone. Like Iñárritu’s 2016 Academy Award-winner, The Pale Blue Eye, based on author Louis Bayard’s bestselling 2003 novel, is a tale of painstakingly cunning retribution.
Featuring a young Edgar Allan Poe in a reimagined entity (a common theme in several of Bayard’s other writing — the recreation of historical fact), Cooper’s dramatic thriller is often a hauntingly gripping murder-mystery that is evocatively multi-layered. Yes, the addition of Poe (played quite expertly by Harry Melling of Harry Potter and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) certainly brings the film an air of intrigue, and frequent Cooper collaborator Christian Bale is usually great, here portraying protagonist Detective Gus Landor. However, the critical translation of the brand spanking new Netflix original, has been, well, feebly pale… Why have critics been so divisive to such a highly anticipated new movie?
What Is The Pale Blue Eye?
Netflix
Set against the backdrop of 19th-century New York, The Pale Blue Eye takes actualities from esteemed author and poet, Poe’s early life, before his name carried such famed literary clout. The film documents his time at the West Point Military Academy, and the fictional grisly homicides of hanged soldiers with their innards brutally gouged out.
Recruited by the Academy’s officers, seasoned crime-solver Augustus Landor (Christian Bale), with his rugged beard and wily experience, is tasked with uncovering the grim atrocities that have occurred around the military base. Enlisting the help of a youthful Edgar Allan Poe, who is presented by a lively, exquisite Harry Melling (who also carries a really uncanny resemblance to the poetic mastermind), the pair form an unlikely murder-cracking double-act.
Christian Bale’s Rendition of Detective Landor
Christian Bale has proven himself over a career spanning 35 years as an actor of both remarkable longevity, and almost unbridled acting mastery. From Empire of the Sun to his decorated stint as the caped crusader, he slips in and out of roles so effortlessly, yet his portrayal of Detective Gus Landor in The Pale Blue Eye, arguably represents somewhat of an anomaly, a blotch on his previously flawless immaculate landscape… at least in the pale blue eyes of film critics.
Maybe it was Scott Cooper’s screenwriting, which does Bale’s acting prowess a disservice via an underwritten, underdeveloped, and frankly, rather uninteresting character. Or perhaps it’s simply down to Bale himself delivering a below-par, off-color performance as the widowed investigator. For whatever reason, critics haven’t held back on wading in on his apparent lack of personality.
Comparisons, whether fairly or unfairly, have naturally been drawn to the likes of Benoit Blanc and Branagh’s Hercule Poirot, who both exude that colorful flare and flamboyance, even if they do sometimes descend into caricature. Bale’s Landor has been accused of not possessing a particularly distinctive investigative manner, and at times, it feels he’s almost lost his way in that criterion. Despite his supposed knack for solving crimes of the macabre, Landor never really seems to have a particular penchant for it. He’s devoid of any kind of honed style, and hasn’t got the punctiliousness of Holmes or Blanc’s ability to observe and perceive.
The Pale Blue Eye’s Supposed Lifelessness and Lack of Spark
As you’d probably expect from a murder mystery, lifelessness is in its very nature, but in this instance, it’s not the homicidal kind that saps the picture of its life-giving potency. The Pale Blue Eye has received ample criticism regarding its pace, and the underwhelming conviction in which it delivers its narrative. It’s undeniably a slow-burner, and there is seldom a palpable sense of urgency to solve these heinous crimes, although the reason for that lack of urgency eventually becomes clear.
Due to its stop-start-start-stop pace, the publicly voiced qualms are understandable, yet while the film may seem visibly labored, with even the most pertinent of scenes fizzling, or in some cases, burning out, there is an uncharacteristic deficiency in genuine jeopardy. The stakes just don’t come across with any visceral importance. Additionally, there has already been a decent film in the past year which imagines Edgar Allan Poe in the middle of a dark, dramatic mystery — Raven’s Hollow.
Overall, the negative reviews of Cooper’s latest production are a harsh indictment of a screenplay that is neither exceedingly exhilarating nor profoundly dismal. It’s not a whodunit that is going to win any awards or transfigure the traditional murder mystery, but it is a stunningly shot piece of filmmaking, with cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi capturing New York’s Hudson Valley in all its snow-white, wintry bleakness. Like the film, Bale also doesn’t deserve all the critical denunciation that he’s been getting, but it’s by no means his finest showing. His display as a weary, circumstantially depleted veteran detective still garners an air of low-key admirability, even if The Pale Blue Eye is almost as tired as him.
