THE PALE BLUE EYE

1830, West Point Military Academy: a young cadet has been murdered on campus and the school has enlisted Detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) who himself enlists the assistance of cadet Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) to track down the killer. Surprisingly, a lot of the cast is English-born passing for Americans and while the first 20 or so minutes of the opening are intriguing enough, the story never hooks the audience after that time. Poe plays the wordsmith poet without issue but foolishly has an unreciprocated love towards Lea (Lucy Boynton), who uses his infatuation for her to her advantage. Meanwhile, Bale seems to have mailed in this performance as he's unengaged throughout. After looking at director Scott Cooper's previous films it's no wonder I found this to be quite so unappetizing as his last effort ANTLERS was a similar disappointment. Give it to the marketing people, they interest you enough to view the film but once you've sat through it you regret it. I'll be sure to be more cautious with his films in the future. 4/10