Anyone who thinks a film critic starts a film hoping for a turkey would be wrong. The sad truth is that breathing is often involved. And if a masterpiece doesn't emerge, we might at least have some fun. The latter is dictated by Pale Blue Eyes, Netflix's goth-style historical thriller. A star in Christian Bale who was admirable even in his wild career; And most promising of all, a detective role for a novel by Edgar Allan Poe.
Spoiler alert: Blue Eyed Blue is not particularly funny.
Balem didn't play Pon either, which might be part of the problem. Instead, it is veteran detective Augustus Lander who is summoned to the West Point Military Academy in the snowy winter of 1830. There he is greeted by a nervous colonel (Timothy Spall) and a slide show. We know it can be found by cracking the code and asking bloodlessly. (It, like the others, is based on the original 2003 novel by Louis Bayard.) He's also very thirsty in the afternoon, a trait not remedied by the subjects he's asked to investigate. A cadet takes his own life, but in a very complicated way. Their hearts were taken from them. Call it history.
At least the star should feel at home in a tea room full of British actors. fluid slip; Jokes by Toby Jones; Harry Melling, the young actor in the recent Harry Potter films, is now introduced as EA Poe, a fourth-year cadet. (Poe really did go to West Point; Melling's speech is hard to understand.)
A little poetry soon became Lander's friend. However, the screen hierarchy is confusing. When Bale came down, the mix was huge. Genius detectives are often not spectators. Like many of writer-director Scott Cooper's crazy films, it's hard to tell if that's due to the design or the awkward editing. Either way, the man made a strange second banana.
Then came another body; pale lover; Gillian Anderson as West Point's grandmother. Mysteries abound. There may be some confusion among movie theater owners about what movie-friendly Netflix has to give this Christmas. (Meanwhile, Knife Out The Glass Onion 's sequel is now only available for streaming.)
Perhaps Pale Blue Eyes was meant to be a double bill: two different films sharing a title. Half got weirder. There was the ancestor's whisper, Devil Cult, which Anderson made with an eye for detail. But the writer Cooper Hammer does not trust the director Cooper, who shoots the adult Malki slowly and seriously as if he is so realistic.
Cooper and Bale teamed up on 2013's Out of the Furnace , a story about a Pennsylvania steel mill. Like their latest collaboration, this is not a horror film. But it's strange that Melling comes to mind as he switches between scenes, his mouth quivering and clicking, complaining of extreme boredom. Crow: Me and you.
★★★☆☆
In theaters December 23 and on Netflix January 6
