Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) returns to his cottage to discover Captain Hitchcock (Simon McBurney) awaiting him. Hitchcock has come from West Point and would like Landor's assistance in solving the bizarre death of Cadet Fry. That Fry hanged himself is not a mystery; that his heart was removed after his body had been recovered was. Landor accepts the commission. He has hardly begun his investigation at West Point when Cadet Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) approached him to say that the person responsible was a poet. Soon, Landor engages Poe as a secret assistant. Then heartless animals are discovered. Is there some Satanic Cult active near the academy? Landor consults with Jean Pepe (Robert Duvall), an expert on the occult. When Cadet Ballinger is found hanged and heartless, suspicion turns toward Poe. Poe had had difficulties with Fry; worse, he had threatened to kill Ballinger on the very night he died. Both Ballinger and Poe had been courting Lea Marquis (Lucy Boynton), daughter of Doctor Maquis (Toby Jones) and sister to a classmate, Cadet Artemus Marquis (Harry Lawtey).
Poe is well explored. He affects a Southern gentility from being raised in Virginia. Though born in Boston, he had grown up in Richmond, VA, from the age of 2. Melling manages to make Poe both an ostracized oddball and yet likeable and charming. He is shown to be bookish, fluent in French, fascinated by death, silver-tongued, and possessing a facility for deduction. Though Poe was only 21 in 1830 and Melling is 33, Poe looked old for his age. He had once claimed to be 22 when he was only 18 and was not called on the deception. Of note, Poe began attending West Point in July of 1830 and was expelled in March of 1831. His fellow cadets gifted him with $170 ($5,799.48 in 2023 dollars) to help him publish Poems.
Superintendent Sylvanus Thayer (Timothy Spall) was 45 years old in 1830. Spall is 65. Captain Ethan Allen Hitchcock was only 32, but is portrayed by a 65 year-old McBurney. Though it is great that these historical figures weren't replaced with fictional stand-ins, casting could have been better. Still, both did a fine job. It is funny that the principal cast is almost entirely British.
The mystery proves to be more complex than one expects. Reminiscent of The Sixth Sense (1999), one must reconsider the movie when Poe reveals the final twist. Of course, upon reconsidering, there are many unanswered questions and logical stretches. Overall, an entertaining film and definitely recommended.
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