As is now typical, The Pale Blue Eye arrived on Netflix last Friday after a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it theatrical run. Though that business model is destroying the moviegoing experience and will likely put whole cinema chains out of business in the next few years, I didn’t mind it in this case. The latest collaboration between actor Christian Bale and filmmaker Scott Cooper is slow, spooky, and strange as hell. This is a movie to be watched at home, under a blanket, among familiar things.
Christian Bale investigates a series of gruesome murders in 1830 Hudson Valley, N.Y., in Scott Cooper s "The Pale Blue Eye," an adaptation of Louis Bayard s 2003 novel of the same name. It s a film based on some really good material, that takes place in an intriguing setting, and that sports a terrific cast who click right into place. Yet despite the many things it has going for it, "The Pale Blue Eye" can never quite get out of second gear.