Texas Killing Fields - Schreiendes Land

The movie itself is really on the verge of being really good. But it never quite reaches that top. Still it is a wonderful acted and photographed movie. The story keeps you on your toes (or the edge of your seat from time to time), though you sometimes wish there would be a clearer and easier to follow narrative. On the other hand you could argue that that is the strong point of the movie.

Being based on real events, this obviously had some high expectations to fill (read there was some notion from the real detectives, who were hoping to get new clues on happenings in that area, though I can't confirm if that is true or not). And it shouldn't matter or make a difference on what you think of the movie. Either you like it or you don't. No matter what is really going on. You can't put that kind of pressure on a low budget movie like this one.

With a great cast list, I jumped at this film with enthusiasm. This was met with a complete underutilisation of some of my favourite actors. For what it was Jeffrey Dean Morgan played his limited role well, Sam Worthing over acted his role making him less convincing and Chloe Moretz was vastly underused.

The plot is difficult to follow and some scenes seem completely unnecessary and others feel as though there needs to be more detail. The story overall suffers from a lack of telling and too much showing. The main plot itself was rather predicable and ultimately let me shaking my head in disapproval. Putting this aside there were some parts of the film that made it interesting and the overall story was good in premise.

I suppose I don't want to hate this film, because it has so much potential. It left me feeling disappointed, but as a point of reference of something done badly that could be brilliant, this is the perfect case.

A modest, if unspectacular low-key offbeat crime thriller that seems to focus on its bleak noir atmospherics and rustic sense of place (being filmed in New Orleans creating such an alienating environment from its bayous), and less so on its moody characters and narrative depth of its investigation. Things just seem to happen, with little to no reasoning behind it. Conventional storytelling enlivened by its edgy moments of suspense. Texas cop Mike Souder is paired up with out-of-town New York detective Brian Heigh where they're dealing with a local murder, but Heigh finds himself looking into another case involving a serial killer who murders his lady victims in the killing fields a wasteland outside Texas City. Director Ami Canaan Mann (yep the daughter of Michael Mann) in her debut feature creates a slick look with her prowling camera and gets strong performances from the likes of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Sam Worthington, Chloe Grace Moretz and Jessica Chastain. Even the minor support give fine turns; Sheryl Lee, James Herbert and an unsettling Stephen Graham. However it's the four main leads that really carry this. Morgan's turn as the New York copper is the film's heart and conscience, but that's not taking anything away from Worthington and Chastain. Worthington probably gives the best performance of his career as the hard-bitten Texan detective and Chastain really does hold her own as a fellow officer. However it's Moretz who really surprises in a tender, but spirited performance as the street kid of the town tramp. She's definitely a talent. You can't take anything away from the cast, as they don't limit themselves to the material's shortcomings. The story is supposedly inspired by true events, but never does it go into any great detail and this can be its downfall. As what transpires can feel forced and rushed leading to something predictably anti-climatic due to the red herrings being too obvious. Still Mann keeps you interested with her technical techniques, but also giving it a contemplatively humane touch amongst its slow pace and brooding circumstances. A fair, if compelling straight-to-DVD enterprise.

"You don't know how close to the edge you are".

Apparently this is based on true events which occurred several decades prior spanning for a long time. This film has more so the feel of an episode of CSI or any police crime drama thriller type we have seen before. Also somewhat reminded of True Detective but this was obviously made before that. It starts off slow, picks up the pacing and interest a little in the middle then doesn't exactly reach to great heights as it should have.

Chloë Grace Moretz is possibly the standout in a very early tome portraying a troubled teen. The highlight and climax involves her being ultimately kidnapped with the lead cop (Sam Worthington) finding the killer in the house and ultimately taking them down. The reveal of the killer was far too predictable and rather anti climatic. In the end, this film wasn't anything special and was rather average.

I was sort of hanging for this film, great cast, story line that can make for great viewing, and I like the setting of the story as well. And after another lackluster year when it comes to entertainment on the big screen, I thought this could be great!

Well sadly to say it is messy, when it comes to this kind of cop film, you need direction, some one that can tell the story at a good pace, connect all the dots, get you engrossed in the mood of the film, make you sit and wait for more clues and so on, but this film lacks all of that.

Sure the acting is solid, but I expected that with the good cast, but it just does not flow at a good pace, it jumps over some dots that should be connected to make you feel you are part of the characters, and that's where this film is messy, hence my score of 5, sort of sits in the middle.

Nothing special, but not bad either, 5 out of 5 for this one.