The Pale Blue Eye

I found Melling's acting terribly irritating for the first half hour, but then somehow it clicked; he’s a weird guy. I once read somewhere that every person has some equivalent of an animal, in my eyes he is a bat. If there's ever a remake of Nosferatu, I vote for him with all my limbs. Otherwise I really liked the visuals, the real locations, I really liked the candlelight and the eye-catching contrast it created; the atmosphere was delectable, the cold added so much. The pace was ok, I like these slowly told stories, and the twist at the end after the first reveal surprised me. I have no problem with this film, unlike my already oversaturated colleagues here. (01/22/2023)

A film where pretty much everything is right except how long it is, or rather how long it feels. Had they cut half an hour, which they sure could have done, it would have been better. Otherwise I really have nothing to complain about, the acting and cinematography are excellent, the story is interesting and the ending is strong. (01/15/2023)

Oh, my God, that was like 14 days long. Otherwise, it's a classic "Guess the murderer" type crime thriller with some pretty cool period visuals and an unexciting but average Christian Bale, but the running time is just horribly tedious. A skippable piece that no one will remember in two days. (01/10/2023)

Big blue...I know what. Bale is lethargic, Melling plays Poe as if he’s had polio, and it doesn’t help that he looks identical to the master’s iconic likeness. Scott Cooper wrote a florid but hopelessly executed fusion of serious drama and corny horror story involving murders, which under his stiff direction also occasionally seems like a production staged by a university drama club. The would-be melancholic philosophising about the poet’s fate and the half-hearted references to Poe’s work aren’t exactly great either. I was really in the mood for this film, but after a while I found myself cursing and beating my beak against the window of my own nevermore. (01/14/2023)

Scott Cooper's collaboration with Christian Bale was once a resounding success (if you haven’t seen Hostiles from 2017, you should definitely check it out). Unfortunately, here, Cooper bit off more than he could chew. The visuals are flawless—E.A. Poe’s unmistakable book atmosphere is perfectly captured on screen, and even the dramatic monologues surprisingly fit well into the overall concept. But the pacing! The first hour drags at times to an almost unbearable degree. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy slower detective stories, but this was taken to an extreme. The film did manage to redeem itself somewhat towards the end—it started to gain real momentum, and the final plot twist truly knocked me off my feet. Bale delivered a masterful performance once again. So, it ends up being a solid 7/10, but honestly, it had the potential for a much higher rating. Such a shame. I give it 7/10. (02/01/2023)