The Pale Blue Eye  ★★★

THERES only one part of The Pale Blue Eye that is true.

The poet Edgar Allan Poe did attend the prestigious US Military Academy at West Point.

But he did not help a former detective solve a series of cadet murders in 1830.

The basis of Scott Cooper’s script, adapted from a 2003 novel by Louis Bayard, delivers an entertaining and atmospheric gothic mystery thriller.

Christian Bale plays fictional former detective Augustus Landor whose services are called upon after the body of an academy cadet is found in the surrounding forest, hanging from a tree and missing its heart.

Landor’s investigations bring him into conflict with a range of strong characters played by some of the best character actors around.

Among them is another young cadet, an intellectual, would-be poet and outsider, Poe, who expresses theories on the case and is enlisted by Landor as a pseudo-assistant who will try to quietly investigate from within the academy ranks.

Bale is his usual solid self while Harry Melling gives an interesting, idiosyncratic performance as Poe.

The formidable supporting cast includes Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Toby Jones, Timothy Spall and Robert Duvall.

The only misstep is wasting the great Charlotte Gainsboug in a nothing role as Landor’s love interest.

Watched on Netflix